


Eyes of the Dragon

by Khthon



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Background Relationships, F/F, Female Tommy Oliver, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2018-11-08 18:34:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 50,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11087541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khthon/pseuds/Khthon
Summary: When Tomi found herself in detention for something she didn't regret, she figured life would continue on as normal with some slight changes. Of course, an alien attack on Angel Grove and the multi-color fighters had to shake things up even more. What she didn’t expect were the changes that would coincide with her detentions and with some of her fellow detention goers.





	1. Chapter 1

“How was detention this week?”  


She knew the question was coming; it was usually one of the first ones her therapist asked during her visits. Still she didn’t have to like the question. It kept reminding her of what she did to wind up there. If she didn’t know her therapist as well as she did, she’d almost feel as if he was trying to make her feel guilty for either of those things.  


“Fine. It was fine,” She had to rein in the venom she normally would’ve replied with. She wasn’t angry with him and he was just doing his job. She was angry at the school, and their stupid need to show they don’t tolerate fights under any circumstance. They just couldn’t come out and say "don’t fight in school". She wasn’t even in school when it happened; she had been school adjacent since the soccer field was outside. “I’m surprised they got the school up and running so quickly after the attack. Would it have killed them to delay it for a month?”  


“Considering that the school only received superficial damage in the attack, I’m surprised they gave you and the other kids two weeks off.” Her therapist responded lightly to her complaint. She still had hoped school would be out longer so she could quietly deal with the fallout her actions caused. Obviously it didn’t, because her appearance at Saturday detention relit the rumor mill about her. “Did anything unusual happen this week?”  


“Aside from the absolute loss of anybody I considered a friend? Not really,” She felt herself laugh at her answer. It was pretty much true, anyone she considered a friend vanished in the span of an hour once she got to school the following Monday. The heel turn her “friends” did, lessened the sting of getting removed from the team at least. That was for damn sure.  


“Wait there was something unusual. A girl in detention seemed to have recognized me… Probably from the rumors. She was wearing pink that day,”  


“Bit of a strange thing to notice, how did that catch your eye?”  


“She ended up turning around, I guess to see if it was really me after I sat down or something. I ended up seeing part of her shirt when I met her gaze.”  


“Did you say hello when she looked back?”  


“What, no? She was, like, at the front of the room. I did wave at her though, which now might explain the eyes I felt on me.” Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she let the topic drop. She didn’t want to get into a conversation about recognizing ex-Ms. Popular Kimberly Hart to her therapist or how strange she found it that Kim recognized her, however small the recognition might be. Heavens forbid the possible conversation about that other girl that caught her eye. Wanting to avoid that she branched off into something tried and true.  


“Is it normal to feel nothing?”  


“About…,”Her therapist fished for context. It wasn’t the first time she asked a similar question without preamble. “Hospitalizing a boy? Losing all your friends? Your paren-"  


“Friends! Losing all my friends.” She interrupted with some ire. “I couldn’t care less about the boy I hospitalized; the pissant deserved it for what he had been doing and no amount of demonizing, ostracizing, or detention will get me to feel otherwise.”  


It was true too; she wouldn’t ever feel remorse for breaking that boy’s hand and a few other bones that placed his ass in the hospital for the foreseeable future. She felt the bastard had it coming for what he was doing. Wait- she was getting off track here.  


“Is it, you know, normal to not feel broken up when you go from having friends to having none?” She began after collecting her thoughts on the topic. Said topic was definitely the easiest of the three that her therapist threw out. “I just…everything I see about friends-having friends, on the net, got me thinking I would be more broken up about this and I’m not.”  


She shrugged halfheartedly as she took a moment to try and put her thoughts into a concise sentence.  


“Maybe it’s because I’ve never had friends before, so I don’t know what to feel. It’s kind of bothering me. I guess I thought I’d care more about them abandoning our friendship but I just… don’t.” Honestly she felt a little silly voicing this now, but it was out and it would hopefully distract her therapist. She really didn’t want to talk about why she had beaten that boy so viciously or anything else. Well okay, gun to her head; she’d be interested in vaguely talking about Hart recognizing her and the other girl she saw. That conversation would take a weird turn considering how she found herself staring at the other girl.  


“That’s a reasonable assessment, Tomi, though I would add that you weren’t exactly friends with them. From everything you told me about the team, you only really knew two of the girls. The rest were just acquaintances that you knew and put up with,” He stated after a minute or two of absorbing what she said. “Or friends of convenience you could say. When you first told me the situation that put you in detention I was a little surprised that you stood up for her. Surprised in the sense that you helped one of the girls you viewed as an acquaintance, without any thought of consequence.”  


“Yeah but-” Tomi felt her protest die in her throat as she caught herself getting worked up. She didn’t want to get into that conversation again and she damn well was going to avoid it if she could.  


“After you elaborated on the altercation and the lead up to it, it made more sense although something you said stuck out.” He paused a moment to see If she’d add anything more or make some mention of remembering it. At her lack of a response, he pulled out the previous sessions' notes and read off what stuck out. “You had mentioned something about teaching him a lesson earlier if you knew how seriously he would’ve hurt the team. The team you were previously on.”  


Tomi held his gaze for a moment before shrugging. She didn’t exactly lie when she vented about the entire situation, though why he picked that out seemed rather strange.  


“I stand by what I said.”  


“Good. Standing by your convictions is good though I didn’t bring it up to talk about the fight, Tomi. I brought it up because I feel that, while you may not miss the friends you had, you may miss being a part of some group or being in someplace you felt that you earned.”  


She felt her eyebrows rise at the comment. It might definitely explain why she was angrier than normal when she was kicked off the team but she was sure that was from of all the looks she got from her teammates. Teammates she had just shown a huge amount of loyalty to, by standing up for one of them. Apparently that didn’t mean anything; at least the girl she helped was thankful before she moved. Something about wanting to get away from bad memories which Tomi empathized with more than that girl knew.  


“I’m not so sure about that. My old teammates clearly showed we weren’t friends after I got removed despite me sticking my neck out for one of them,” Tomi admitted, unaware of the bitterness in her tone. Her therapist just hummed in response and she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Okay so maybe she was feeling a little spiteful, just a little though. She felt that it was understandable, and as a comfortable silence came over them Tomi began to get lost in her thoughts.  


Thoughts that largely dealt with Hart, and puzzling over exactly why Hart would do a double take upon seeing her in detention. Nothing was honestly coming to mind. Sure, they shared an English class this year but they didn’t frequently exchange pleasantries when they saw each other. Not much of a reason for Hart to care about her. Feeling her gaze wander about the room Tomi turned her thoughts to the more interesting thing in her mind, that girl who caught her interest…a girl in yellow. Okay so maybe she was kind of cute, but it was honestly because she was smaller than Tomi. It was by like two inches but still! She had found someone smaller than her that wasn’t a kid. It was a surprise considering she had been the shortest girl on the soccer team, and one of the shortest in the school so she had kind of resigned herself to being short but now she found someone smaller. Although something (intuition) told Tomi that unlike herself, the girl’s short stature was more natural than her own. Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop as a light cough grabbed her attention, causing Tomi to shift her gaze to her therapist while saving her thoughts for later.  


“Well hopefully the next friends you make are better than the last,” The hollow laugh just slipped out of her honest. “Although I suggest that instead of waiting for someone to come to you, you try putting yourself out there and make a friend.”  


“That’ll probably be a little hard considering I went from school athlete and quiet kid to the school psychopath going by what I heard.”  


“Yes well, we all have to deal with life’s challenges from time to time, Tomi. Fortunately you have something to ease that burden.” The look she shot him painted a pretty clear picture of confusion. One eyebrow raised, an eye partially squinting, and a slight down turn in her lips all while her head was tilted slightly. “Charisma. You, Tomi, have charisma; admittedly your tendency to keep to yourself and to keep most conversations short lead to it being hidden but it’s there. You should let it out sometime and see whether kids still care after a few conversations.”  


“Rrrright, yeah. That’ll go well; maybe I should just buddy up to some gossip queen and explain what happened. They’ll understand I’m sure.” Tomi’s disbelief at the idea of her being charismatic was plainly evident, though the understanding look on her therapist’s face caused Tomi to consider his words.  


“Alright fine, you may have a point. My “charisma” could explain why that girl looked at me in detention.”  


“That’s the spirit!” The warmth in his smile still surprised her occasionally. “Maybe your next encounter with that girl will have you wrapped up in a conversation.”  


“I’m not too sure about that but I’ll give it a shot,” She said halfheartedly as she collected her trademark dark green hoodie and made for the door. Her time was up and she had some other things to do before it got dark.  


“I’ll see you in two weeks Tomi.”  


“See you then.”  


##### -Across town down in the earth during Tomi’s session-

  
The group of five teenagers that had secretly saved all life on the planet from an extraterrestrial villain, remained blissfully unaware of the interest two of their members garnered. Well almost unaware.  


“Hey Pink,” Zack whispered as he stood next to his fellow ranger. “That girl who waved at you today, did you get an admirer?”  
Jason liked to switch up how they usually did putti practice sometimes, which typically involved Trini and Billy pairing up to go first in their training and left Kim and Zack off to the side to wait their turn. This often led to them talking (read: plotting) about how they could rope Jason into something that might get them in trouble.  


“Hmm? No she is-I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t admire me,” Kim answered equally quiet. “We share a class together this year, that’s about it. Why, you hoping for a date?”  


“Nah, well I mean come on I could get a date. Look at this smile.” The smile he flashed was rather charming, Kim had to admit. “Probably not from her though, that girl gave some serious “Fuck off” vibes.”  


“What? She’s not tha-the few times I talked with her she’s been pleasant.”  


“I don’t know about that Princess, I saw Death looming behind her when she waved to you.” Kim hummed in thought as she saw one of the fake golems get double teamed by her friends.  


“She could’ve just been mad about getting detention.”  


“Maybe.” Zack nodded at the idea, “she did look less…annoyed by the end of it.”  


Another hum in response from Kim and the conversation came to an end as the last putty was demolished. The girl in green slowly slipped into the shadows of Kim’s mind to quietly be replaced by other thoughts. Thoughts of a soft smile filled her mind as Kim offered some water to her friends, before she and Zack were walking into the pit.  


It was their turn to pulverize putties now, and Kim knew they were going to do with it pizazz. She might even be able to throw in some jazz hands if she got lucky.  


##### \------

  
An hour after nightfall, the stars are finally out as a full moon sits above Angel Grove illuminating the dark. One could describe the night as romantic and as Tomi made her way up along the town’s coast towards the beach, seeing numerous couples enjoying a night out at the town’s little boardwalk she would be hard pressed to disagree. Apparently an attack on the town made people appreciate what they had in their lives, who knew. However, Tomi would disagree and argue that it wasn’t romantic, it was serene. She could and would definitely (jokingly) blame those couples for giving the night any sort of romance. Tomi had just wanted to sort out her thoughts by walking along the beach while bathed in moonlight and that didn’t involve navigating through a crowded boardwalk. Could ya blame a night owl for being a little annoyed?  


Moving around a couple that seemed too into each other, Tomi felt like kicking herself. Why didn’t she just park near the beach? Oh that’s right, no spots were available and she convinced herself that it’d be good exercise to walk to the beach. She was never listening to herself again, unless she went out after midnight. 

Dodging around yet another couple, Tomi came to the decision that she needed another way to sort through her thoughts that wasn’t martial arts or walks. Martial arts only really worked, for her, when she was going through stances and night walks were too sporadic since she relied on moonlight most of the time. Maybe listening to music would be easier.  


Speaking of which, Tomi felt like kicking herself again as she could really go for some music while walking. It’d be so much better than the bits of conversations she was hearing. She really didn’t need to hear lovey dovey shit couples would say to each other though there were strange bits that caught her ear like:  
_“Remember our first time in Paris?”_ \- Sounded like an older couple that travels.  
_“What? How can you not like Kitten? Come on, it’s a great…even agrees.”_ \- A second couple, though she didn’t catch the last part.  
_“Bro, you know I love ya right?”_ \- Couple, no question.  
_“God fine! But I’m calling you Rose now.”_ \- Couple? Tomi wasn’t quite sure since she heard a girl whine following the statement. Apparently Rose wasn’t fond of the name.  
_“You little brat, your ass is mine when we get home.”_ \- A dom? She didn’t really want to find out.  


It was then and there that Tomi decided to pick up the pace. She really didn’t want to overhear anything stranger than would-be foreplay. That’s what she gets for spending sometime in the gutter, goddamn it. Shaking those thoughts from her head as she picked up the pace, Tomi moved around a third couple that was absorbed in each other. Yeah, this was probably not the best night to go out on. Goddamn Saturdays. She was definitely sticking to week days from now on.  


Sand under foot, and the crowds behind her, Tomi ran a hand through her hair. She hates this part of her walks. The part that involved trying to figure out which issue was bothering her. It sure as shit wasn’t how she mauled that abusive prick. If he didn’t want to that broken hand, maybe he shouldn’t have hit her in the back as she led her teammate away or just not be abusive towards her teammate. Kidney punches are a bitch. She should’ve stomped on his kidneys harder after he was on the ground, would’ve been fitting for what he did. Laughing at that thought Tomi was glad she ultimately didn’t do it that hard. She had caused enough trouble for standing up to that fuck; Tomi doesn’t want to make it worse enough that her Aunt needs to be more involved.  


Okay, sure the alien attack and partial destruction of Angel Grove overshadowed the fight she got in but that scrap was her problem. Tomi wasn’t fond of her problems interfering with her Aunt’s life to the point where she had to change plans. That had almost happened with the fight and it made her feel terrible. Not the actual fight, but the fact her Aunt was willing to drop everything to help her. 

Of course the alien attack went and nearly undid all the convincing she did. Maybe that was what was bothering her; the fucking gold…titan… thing ruining her town. Silver was better! Grumbling at the recurrent thoughts about the attack, Tomi silently cursed upon realizing that her Aunt would probably want to talk about what happened while she was away.  


There was an upside to her Aunt coming back early. Beyond having her Aunt in the house again, Tomi would have someone else to talk with. Well in person that is. If it wasn’t for that fight, she could at least talk to her teammates during the day and practice but now it was just whenever the teachers called on her, pleasantries, or when she went to her therapist. Honestly it reminded her of when she was younger before that…incident, but now she’s aware of how little she talked back then. It was a little hard to get used to again. She just had to get through Sunday and then her Aunt would be home on Monday. Tomi’s life would become normal again on Monday. She hoped.  


Walking past a beach house and then another one, Tomi started to get a sinking feeling in her gut. A feeling that told her it was getting later than she expected when she began this walk, or maybe it was just some nerves because she was much closer to the highway after passing those beach houses. It was probably the latter, though now that it was on her mind it sounded like a good idea to turn back…after checking out that inlet she found. 

An inlet that is curiously close to the road leading out of Angel Grove. There were stranger things in the world, and Tomi felt silly for giving pause at that realization. Laughing at her thoughts, Tomi quickly made her way into the inlet and soon found herself puzzling over the most curious things. Chunks of gold were partially buried in the sand. That wasn’t the strangest thing, which is crazy. The stranger thing that grabbed her attention was a jaw bone? Yeah it looked like part of an animal’s jawbone, just with golden teeth cause that’s normal. Oh there was also that golden disk that looked like it had green in it near the jawbone too. Moonlight wasn’t always the best light source sometimes.  


Now that’s not to say all of those things weren’t curious, or great in the golds’ case, but it did cause Tomi to stop in her tracks. She didn’t know what to take first. Obviously she’d take all of them, but she wasn’t sure which one to keep if push came to shove. 

The gold by itself wasn’t really worth keeping, she could pawn it or something but that’s about the extent of its use. The golden jawbone on the other hand, she could stick in her room or pawn. It definitely deserved more of her attention although her Aunt would most likely get curious about it if she kept it. Tomi didn’t really have a solid excuse for explaining away an animal’s jawbone being in her room, a jawbone which was also gold.  


That in mind Tomi turned her eyes and walked over to the gold and green disk. Now that would look nice in her room, on her shelf with the bevy of masks her Aunt had given her over the years. A little rearranging was in order though so it could act as a center piece but Tomi just knew it would look great. Decision made, she plucked the disk off the ground and was surprised to find that it was lighter than she expected. Holding it up to the moon to get a better look, Tomi got quite the surprise. The green seemed to be emerald of some kind. She might’ve also been guessing but still it looked like a crystal so emerald could be right …or it could be jade. 

Tomi wasn’t too worried about it, though the odd details in the gold caused her to raise an eyebrow. Why were there square patterns on the disk? Well it was more of a coin now that she got a good look at it but still square patterns were an odd feature. The coin also seemed to have something in the crystal though she couldn’t make it out due to the darkness. Taking a few more minutes to appreciate her find as the tide lapped the shore and sand shifted, Tomi found herself marveling at the coin’s appearance. It was really quite beautiful and she’s happy to have found it. Nodding to herself in satisfaction, Tomi slipped the coin into her pocket. It was time to head back.  


Now if she was more alert Tomi might’ve heard the sound of sand shifting around her, or the scrapping of rocks being moved. If she was more aware, she might’ve heard the thump behind her. Tomi didn’t, but she definitely felt the pain that exploded in her lower back when she found herself flying away from the inlet and towards the road.  


“FUCK!”  


Her expletive that ripped through the night was soon coupled with Tomi rolling on the ground side to side, trying to fight through the pain or at least think through it. She was sure that whatever hit her just broke part of her pelvis or her tailbone. Also might’ve busted a kidney, she wasn’t sure. Sure felt like it though, she would probably be pissing blood for a while. Opening her eyes, she made the fortunate mistake of looking towards the water and saw what hit her. It was big, partially hidden by the darkness, and…wasn’t human?  


It had been sand. Sand and rocks! Really?! A fucking sand golem!? Tomi felt pretty justified with the idea of running away right then, especially upon recognizing the golem’s shape. It was like the ones in the attack. That realization was enough to have her stumbling to her feet, which was met with some success and another round of pain exploding in her back. Trying to stand straight might’ve been a horrible idea but she paid that little mind as she began to hobble away from that fucking sand monstrosity.  


A scant few seconds later, Tomi felt like she was making good progress in escaping despite the pain and being knocked senseless. The single time she looked back at the monster, it was still moving slow and she was gaining distance though that didn’t give her the desire to slow down. At least the pain was subsiding as she got further and further away; to the point where her hobble became a slow jog. Yeah, it wasn’t her brightest idea considering she probably had fractures near her joints in addition to a broken pelvis but well it was life or death. She’d deal with the consequences if she survived, not like she really cared. Plus it wasn’t nearly as bad as that time she dislocated her shoulder.  


Of course her brilliant instinct of running did not go as planned. Namely being woefully unprepared when three more golems of sand, rocks, and asphalt formed in front of her as she neared one of the previous beach houses. They also happened to block her escape rather effectively since they spanned the width of the beach.  


“Goddamn it!” At this point, Tomi felt rather justified in hating Saturdays.  


Coming to a halt in front of them, Tomi quickly weighed her options. She could try to go around them via the shore, though that had the risk of her getting hit into the water and she was sure she was in no condition to swim. Tomi could always make a break for the road and just run across it, hoping to god or anyone she got out of their reach before they smacked her again. The athletic experience she had popped into her head and she even considered trying to run in between them. What was the worst that could happen? Outside of getting pulverized and dying a slow death unless they caved in her skull. She could probably make it if she sprinted in between them.  


Mind made up, Tomi chose the extremely reckless route that involved running towards the center most golem in the hopes of slipping through a gap in their guard. Tomi was just within the center golem’s reach when she feinted to the left and sprinted towards the road. That would surely throw them off.  


It didn’t.  


Getting soundly smacked by the asphalt and sand golem, Tomi found herself flying through the air once more. This time towards the guard rail at the other side of the road, which she was sure would fracture if not break some more bones in her body. As she rapidly closed the gap between rail and her body, a stray thought entered her mind.  


_Where are the Colorful Crusaders?_  


Impacting a guard rail is painful. No question, ignoring the resounding clang Tomi even felt the cracking of bones in her left arm before she became a heap on the ground. A heap that fought back a scream as she tried to gather her bearings from being knocked around a second time. The golems were still around and as far as Tomi knew plus they were still coming after her so naturally she untangled herself despite the pain coursing through both body and brain. 

Swallowing the additional screams that came with moving both of her arms, she began to try and get away from the monsters. This might’ve involved using the guard rail as a crutch alongside being wholly unsuccessful when trying to climb over it. She saw spots in her vision as her body swayed over said rail when she was finally successful in climbing over it. The face plant into the ground on the other side wasn’t terribly helpful. Especially with how floaty she was feeling at the moment.  


Fighting against the spots in her vision, Tomi tried to stand and run but that just caused her to fall back down onto the grass. The second and third attempts allowed her to gain a bit of distance from the road, beach, and golems but the fuzzy spots in her head caused whatever good it did to be moot as she felt her legs give out and she became reacquainted with the ground. As Tomi lay there, slowly slipping into unconsciousness from pain and exhaustion, thoughts flew through her mind.  


Mostly about her Aunt and whether she’d be devastated over Tomi’s death. She hoped her Aunt wouldn’t, because she honestly wasn’t worth the effort. Tomi hoped her Aunt would recoup quickly and move on with her life. Maybe convert her room into something practical to get over her death. A death Tomi feels is fitting; dying alone and in the dark, can’t get better than that, though the golems were being awfully loud. They kinda ruined the somber mood too. As she succumbed to unconsciousness, Tomi accepted her assumed death with scorn.  


_Can’t fucking believe I died on a Saturday._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this spawned from a few stray thoughts. One of them being that the credit scene implied that Tommy was new to detention but not new to Angel Grove or something. It's been a while since I saw it. I'm also take a few liberties like with Rita's magic, residual effects of said magic, the town layout, where the town is located, disciplinary action, what happened with Rita's coin, and the extent of the healing the coins can do.


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up in the morning is in an interesting process for most people. Sometimes it’s slow; sometimes it’s as fast as if they just had closed their eyes. Usually once out of bed people were well on their way to waking up fully, maybe after having some caffeine, while others needed longer. Tomi was part of the latter. It took her a good forty minutes to wake up usually since she didn’t have coffee and that typically involved her being oblivious to life, unless of course something forced her awake. 

Like sleeping on the edge of her bed then rolling off and meeting the floor with a thump. The dull pain from encountering the floor caused something to register in Tomi’s mind as her eyes snapped open. She doesn’t sleep in casual clothes. Letting out a sigh Tomi got to her feet and began patting her pants down.

“Gods please let it be Sunday,” Tomi grumbled as she fished out her phone and groaned. Apparently her phone had blown up with texts during the night, and they were all from her Aunt of course. She was positively buried in them, though upon reading some she felt a little bad. Her Aunt had been worried about her, which was odd. Tomi was pretty sure they had texted the previous night; reassuring her Aunt that everything was okay, unless…Something was wrong. Going to her lock screen, Tomi found a reason why her Aunt might’ve texted so fervently. It was a simple thing really but it was important. 

07:08 Monday 

#####  Monday

Well…Tomi apparently had twenty minutes to get to school. The day was off to a great start. No she wasn’t going to skip; she’s in enough trouble already. Tossing her phone on her bed, Tomi got to the door of her bedroom and stopped to process how wobbly her steps were. Said steps that were way wobblier than normal and causing her to feel disorientated. Taking a breath to find her center, Tomi firmly ignored any oddities in her gait as she resumed her morning activities. She needed to get ready for school and that didn’t involving drumming up concern for her gait. Tomi could still walk so everything was fine. 

Stumbling into the bathroom while divesting herself, she got halfway through her shower when something interesting caught her attention. Tomi was pretty sure her abs weren’t as prominent as she was feeling. Especially when compared to her legs and yet here she was easily feeling the muscles. The light shiver that ran up her spine despite the scalding water knocked the curiosity from her mind. She would discover the mystery of her abs later, when she was not pressed for time. 

Quickly finishing her shower, while lamenting the fact she didn’t have time to braid her hair, she pointedly ignored any other changes she found on her body. Like the various bruises on her back and right leg or the slight ache of pain in her arms. Oh she knew how she got them; you don’t just survive a near death experience and forget without serious repression or head injury. One definitely doesn’t feel like they were born anew following such an event either. However Tomi couldn’t find the urge to care when everything worked out in the end. Besides there were more pressing matters in her mind. 

Her car, for example, is still at the boardwalk which will cause her to be late to school before she even leaves her house. Cursing to herself, Tomi finished getting dressed with the faint hope that nothing else would fuck up her day. Four minutes later, she was locking up her house while ignoring a conspicuous weight in her front pocket. Tomi wasn’t super thrilled as she began making her way towards the boardwalk. The call to her Aunt would involve placating her with some lies and/or dodging of the truth. Tomi was sure her Aunt didn’t need to know how she was nearly beaten to death by the earth. Not something you can casually bring up in conversation either. 

About twenty minutes later, Tomi knew something was up. It typically took her longer to reach the beach while running, much longer, yet she had gotten to her car before eight. Also her Aunt not answering the phone was worrying, though that was easier to explain. She was either sleeping or traveling. Probably the latter if she was worried like her mountain of texts indicated. Tomi knew that worry would cause her Aunt to try and get back home earlier than expected. 

So as Tomi got in her car, she typed out a text for her Aunt that explained why she didn’t answer last night. Most of it was true, some excuse about how she had stayed up later than expected and slept through the evening on Sunday. A believable excuse and one with precedence since Tomi had done something similar before. Tossing her phone onto the passenger seat, Tomi began to make her way out of the parking lot as she cleared her mind on the way to school. 

School was something she wasn’t really looking forward. Sure the constant badgering she used to get about the fight died down, but one brave soul would ask from time to time. Not like the kids really cared about what happened. They were just aware that she got into a fight and some boy would be missing class for a while and they wanted details. Said lack of story had made them obnoxiously curious at first. Tomi had some faint hope that the attack would make the other kids forget about it. So it had been rather frustrating when the brave kids started asking again, but the twisting of events Tomi encouraged gave her quite a bit of fun whenever someone asked. Her favorite twist so far involved some notion that she had been harboring a crush on her teammate. That was a good one. 

Tomi has never had a girlfriend and most of her crushes were incredibly fleeting, so the idea of her pining after her teammate was hilarious. She was also pretty sure she had never felt romance before so yeah, she found that twist particularly hilarious. You know, in addition to Tomi knowing what actually happened compared to hearsay. She did like how it painted her in a flattering light though. Maybe another version will surface that makes her out to be a monster that attempted to abduct her teammate. One can only hope. 

Pulling into the school’s parking lot, Tomi felt a shiver run down her spine. That’s totally not ominous especially with all the other strange things she had discovered today. Next thing she knows, she’ll probably discover some super strength later in the day. Sighing to herself, Tomi pulled into an empty parking spot and to begin her late school day. 

##### -

Okay so, Tomi’s day had gone surprisingly well. Aside from the discoveries that she doesn’t have any class with the girl in yellow and that she could look Kim in the eye while standing, which was weird when she realized it. Speaking of Hart, Tomi had attempted to be “charismatic” like her therapist had suggested but that might’ve come up a little short. Tomi got this sinking suspicion that the conversation she started was just a little stilted and or awkward. Most likely both. On the upside, away from personal opinions and doubts, Tomi had learned Hart had a nice weekend after detention so there was that. Yeah…that kind of cemented the fact that Tomi would need something to talk about since her small talk game was shit. 

Maybe she would get better results with someone more like a stranger, or just someone she didn’t think was so goddamn hot it wasn’t fair. Seriously, how could Hart be so attractive all the damn time!? Especially with those infernal tanks that showed off her arms. Heaven and Hells help Tomi if the girl in yellow was also hot all the time like Kim. Shoving those thoughts to the side, Tomi decided she could be a mess over attractive girls later. She needed to find that girl’s name which could take all week- what with them not sharing a single class at all. No, Tomi was not pouting. 

Pulling into her driveway, she was a little surprised to see that her Aunt had beaten her home. Just a little, it was good though. It meant they could catch up sooner than later, freeing up Tomi’s evening. Plus the sooner she got it over with the sooner she could look for the girl’s name. It had to be somewhere in some school material, like a bloody school paper article or something. 

Sighing to herself, Tomi saved those thoughts for later as she made her way inside and sought out her Aunt after setting her bag down. She didn’t have to wait long before she heard the sound of hurried steps and felt herself being pulled into a hug, one that she wasn’t really in a position to return. 

“Thank Christ, you’re okay Tomi! I feared the worst when you didn’t answer last night,” Her Aunt liked to overreact sometimes. “Not to mention the attack that happened. Spirits, I can’t believe you talked me into staying for those last few weeks.” 

Tomi felt her Aunt loosen the hug before following said hug with a kiss to her forehead. She quickly learned to just go with the flow when her Aunt got like this. At least she wasn’t checking Tomi’s head to see if she was hiding an injury because those were on her back. 

“Auntie-” Tomi didn’t whine, okay, she drew out the word. That was all. There was a difference- “The house didn’t get wrecked in the attack so there was no need. Plus I was fine and could take care of myself, no reason to cut your trip short.” 

“Miko, honey, you survived an attack on the town and then underplayed how destructive it actually was. That’s reason enough.” It was moments like these that Tomi was thankful and somewhat resentful for her short stature, since her Aunt loved to take advantage of her height and pull Tomi into hugs. Honestly the height difference had a tendency to make her pout while wishing she was taller. 

“Alright fine. The next time the town’s demolished while you’re away and I survive, I’ll call you wailing for you to come home,” The incredulous look her Aunt sent her caused a facetious grin to appear on Tomi’s face. “Okay…I wouldn’t be wailing.” 

“Be that as it may, I’m just glad you’re okay Miko. Wanna get take out tonight? You can tell me all about what school’s been like while we eat.” 

“…Sure.” 

In the end, and to Tomi’s surprise, the conversation that she wasn’t looking forward passed without much actual incident. Her Aunt asked for her reason, Tomi gave the actual one and explained how the prick punched her in the back when she was leading her teammate away before she retaliated in kind. Honestly, the reason paled in comparison to the urge she felt when she was punched in the back. Let it not be said that she didn’t know, feel, or understand anger. She knew it. Tomi knew it dearly since it was one of the emotions she could feel so easily, especially when it wasn’t nuanced. 

The other was sadness, obviously, but hey in that moment of time it was anger that coursed through her. It was rage that fueled Tomi into getting him onto the ground via an attack from behind that led to broken digits and a hand. Of course, she didn’t share the utter enmity she felt in the moment with her Aunt. It was weird enough explaining it to her therapist, Tomi wasn’t sure she would properly get across what she had felt as she repeatedly stomped on the kid’s back with the occasional stomp to a hand or kick to the back of his head. Looking back on it, Tomi hadn’t really been lucid for most of it. 

Anyway she was getting distracted remembering things. Tomi’s energy was better spent elsewhere, like trying to keep that coin she found off her person or looking at school stuff before bed. The former sure had been a surprise when she tried to leave for school today. Tomi had gone as far as tossing the thing out of a window and leaving the room, yet it still ended up in her pocket. 

Unfortunately time had not been on her side so she carried the damn thing around all day, even when it got inexplicably hot while she had talked to Hart. Tomi felt if that wasn’t a sign that Kimmy was unbelievable sexy she didn’t know what was. 

Point is- she wasn’t able to get the damn thing off her person. Fortunately, or more like unfortunately, Tomi could feel her concern waning over the damn thing’s attachment; if it wanted to follow her everywhere then that was fine with her. She wasn’t interesting in the slightest. Laughing at the direction her thoughts took, Tomi soon found herself on the computer in her room with the intention of hunting down school articles. There had to be something in there regarding a new student, because those weren’t out of place. Not five minutes later, Tomi found what she was looking for; the name belonging to the girl in yellow. 

“Trini.” 

#####  Tuesday

Trini hasn’t been having the best week so far. On Saturday she had felt someone looking at her in detention. Normally such a thing wouldn’t bother her because they look away after a few seconds except this time the feeling didn’t go away. Odd in its own, since Trini knows she’s not that interesting. It continued and it might’ve been her imagination but she began to feel weirdly coy. 

In the end, she had found that it had been Kimberly who was staring at her and it wasn’t long before they were passing notes. The notes were the start of Trini’s bad week. Kimberly had asked if she would be up for going to the boardwalk that night, something about a night out with friends. How could Trini say no? Especially when she was trying out that “having friends” thing that’s all the rage. There was also the convenient excuse of getting her out of the house and winning her brothers a prize too, should her parents (read: Mom) ever ask about it. 

So imagine her surprise when night had fallen, and Trini found herself wandering the boardwalk with just Kimberly. Well okay, Zack had been there initially but he ducked out after a few games and some funnel cake. He mentioned something about needing to check on his mom before work. When she asked Kimberly about Jason and Billy, she had received something similar. Jace had to watch his sister, and Billy’s mom needed his help with something. 

She had been fine with that, they each have lives after all, and so Trini relented easily when Kimberly talked her into continuing with their plan of walking around the boardwalk. Surprisingly, in her mind at least, it had been fun even if Kimberly had occasionally called her Kitten. She wasn't exactly a fan of the name-she was not a kitten. She’s more like a jaguar- but the sight of Kimberly’s smile and sound of her laugh lessened Trini’s dislike of the name as they continued with their little outing. 

Supposed outing had continued a little while longer before they were alerted to putties by a few couples screaming about rock monsters. So yeah Trini’s Saturday night had been ruined by Rita’s leftovers. 

Sunday began with Zordon revealing to them some more power coin/ranger secret things whatever. Something about their power coins caused them to develop some group think shit type thing that allowed them to get flashes of each other’s emotions and connecting to the grid made it clearer. Zordon had assured them it was mainly used for knowing when one of them was in mortal danger and they needed help. Sounds alright on paper right? 

Yeah, in practice it was pretty fucking terrible. Zack had immediately asked if that was why he felt pleased with himself for stealing the last bit of food from Trini then eating it, while being across town and eating some chips one day. The looks he received almost made up for the surprise putties from the previous day. 

Acourse that was before Trini had spent some time with her family that night and her Mom started to probe for details on her new social life: like who had gone to the boardwalk with her, if it had been a nice boy, when she was going to introduce him to her family, was she always going to not answer her Mom and a host of other questions. She hadn’t really expected all of her…well, friends to knock on her door asking if she was okay because they had felt she was in trouble and then stumbling to come up with a good excuse for visiting when her Mom butted in. 

Thus her Sunday had been ruin by having to unexpectedly introduce all of her friends to her parents because of some stupid linked feelings bullshit. 

Monday was just weird. The entire day she had felt…off. There was no better way to describe it outside of maybe melancholic with a side of emptiness but she wasn’t sad or empty? More like she was feeling something that she shouldn’t be. She thanked the lord that she was so good at ignoring her own emotions. The years of experience allowed her to easily overlook the feeling that decided to stick around for most of the day. However, she wasn’t able to ignore some other things that happened; like Jason and Zack sitting on either side of her in the class they all shared or how Kimberly had asked to hold her hand then started to trace letters on her palm during lunch. Her…friend might’ve successfully replaced the unease with a different and weirder feeling, but Trini wasn’t sure if it helped. Okay so, Kimberly’s smile might’ve added to the new feelings. Who can blame her though? Those smiles were so soft. 

Yeah, the past few days could’ve been better. Tuesday and the rest of Trini’s week couldn’t be worse than Sunday right? 

Much to her chagrin Tuesday was giving its all to be terrible. No the unease from Monday wasn’t there. She had just woken up late; because nightmare fueled insomnia was always a treat. Then the ride to school with Kimberly was unusually quiet. It was unusual because her fellow ranger would typically ask if Trini would be up for doing something after school. Its absence had kind of bothered her, but she figured Kimberly hadn’t been in the best of moods with that pensive look on her face. 

Alas the real punch to the throat this day involved getting cornered in the bathroom by Kimberly’s ex-cheerleading buddies. Trini could only imagine what the purpose of this totally non-intimidating gesture by them was; probably something to do with Kimberly since they usually just slung insults at her from across the hall or under their breath when they cared enough to remember she existed. Obviously one could forgive Trini for not exactly paying attention when Amanda began talking. 

_Amanda‘s remarkably similar to my Mom,_ Trini noted. They didn’t really notice if Trini was paying attention or not…Their loss. Acourse the light shove to her shoulder broke the inattention spell she had been under. Damn girls. 

“Are you paying attention Deedee? Seriously, you should watch yourself around Kimmy,” Had the other girl even said anything? Trini wasn’t sure. “That bitch will twist a knife in your back.” 

“Sure thing, Mandy.” Honest to God, Trini hadn’t meant to reply. The non-committal sarcasm she had meant, but that wasn’t supposed to be out loud. She didn’t want to prolong this conversation. At most, Trini planned on just rolling her eyes but it slipped out along with the intentional sarcasm. The looks on their faces would’ve made her day if her week had been different. 

“Listen, loser, I’m just trying to be nice and warn you abou-“ Trini was just about ready to zone out again when the sound of hurried steps caught her ear, while a cloyingly floral scent quickly invaded the bathroom she had been cornered in. Trini could feel her face twist into a grimace as a girl in some green tank top entered and rushed over to the nearest sink, completely ignoring the other occupants. 

She might’ve mistook that girl for Kimberly if she hadn’t noticed the girl’s long hair or the green of her shirt, since her fellow ranger once shared with her how green was not her color…in any shade or form. Still this almost double of Kimberly gave Trini the great opportunity to slip away and- _oh fucking perfect._ Before she could move, Amanda was stomping towards the girl with a mean look on her face. Seriously, what was up her ass? Did she have a bitch quota to fill or something? 

“Hey,” The sound of water splashing was the only answer Mandy received. Trini had to smile at that, it looks like someone else didn’t think Amanda was special. Looking to the other cheerleader, Trini wanted to make sure this was actually happening. The look of awkward disbelief on Harper’s face ended up confirming that, yes, Amanda was seriously going to try and shoo a girl out of the bathroom just so they could not “threaten” Trini about their ex-friend. Trini felt a headache coming on from how stupid this situation actually is or because of the persisting smell. She wasn’t really sure; it might’ve been both even. 

“ **Hey** ," Trini was pretty sure Amanda didn’t need to be so loud when she’s standing right behind the girl. “Can you use a different bathroom, this one’s busy.” 

Okay yeah, Trini wasn’t going to stay around any longer. Mentally thanking god for christening the girl in green with Amanda’s undivided attention, Trini began to slowly make her way towards the exit. Acourse things didn’t go as planned; she had just walked past Harper when something caused her to pause in her escape. It was the sound of something cracking and it wasn’t glass, which pulled her attention back to the girls near the sink and…Wow. Okay that girl in green’s biceps were really se- _Not the time!_ She wasn’t going to be distracted. Not when she could leave. Blinking those thoughts away, Trini had just about got her resolve back when the girl in green turned to address Amanda. 

“Oh hi Mandy.” The subsequent side eye the girl sent to her and Harper gave Trini a very odd feeling that she should know this girl. She didn’t know why, or from where but it felt really fucking out of place. There was something wrong about the feeling and the girl’s vibrant amber eyes did nothing but add to that unease Trini felt. 

One which got her moving towards the exit again since Amanda now had her hands full and that Harper girl seemed to be looking rather conflicted about something. So it was with some ease that Trini found herself leaving the bathroom and returning to her bio class. Pondering over why those cheerleaders felt it prudent to confront her during class time. 

Well she would’ve gotten back to the classroom with no trouble if she hadn’t been pulled into an empty room, which caused her to let out an exacerbated sigh. Zack was about to get the mother of all Charley horses if he grabbed her just for a prank. Instead of hearing his voice detailing some plan in rapid succession, she heard someone speaking softly to themselves in another language and felt hands on her shoulders. Okay so looking at who grabbed her, Trini found the culprit to be Kimberly instead of Zack. Trini was still somewhat wary that this was for a prank, but the concern in Kimberly’s eyes began to bury that worry. 

“Thank the Gods I found you, Trini are you okay?” The sincere concern and worry in Kimberly’s tone had caused Trini’s eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. She still wasn’t really used to people being deeply concerned about her. Especially when it was so honest, it kind of bothered her. “I-We felt distress from you through the group feely thing like on Sunday and well, you’re okay right? You look oka- “ 

“Kim! I’m fine. Your ex-cheerleading buddies just cornered me, saying some shit about how I shouldn’t trust you.” The concern in Kimberly’s eyes disappeared while the worry remained, stronger than before. “Look, I’m fine. They didn’t really do anything. If you want we could stop by our café later and I’ll tell you about it then, okay?” 

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Kimberly answered with a grin that returned the strangest feeling from lunch yesterday. She would really have to figure out what exactly it was, because it was starting to bother her. Much more than that weird unease ever could. However Trini’s musings about peculiar feelings were cut short as she felt Kimberly remove her hands after one last pat to her shoulders. 

“We should get back to class Kitten,” Next thing Trini knew, Kimberly left the room as laughter reached her ears. 

“KIM!” 

#####  Wednesday

Kim was finding herself to be weirdly introspective while walking towards her English class this day. She fully blamed sleep deprivation for being in such a state. Namely introspection and being frustrated that she had to leave behind a very cute Trini who had been resting on her shoulder to go get some damn books from her locker. Ones she had forgotten to grab earlier. 

Trini had been so adorable during lunch Kim couldn’t believe it, which is weird because ever since Rita’s attack the entire group’s gotten close and keeps getting closer. Bonfires, group sleepovers (those were more recent), spending time together after school, detention (she still wasn’t sure how Trini got in), and of course, training sessions led to an increase in discovery of things her friends do. Naturally, this also led to more unusual situations that allowed them to learn even more about each other while slowly getting rid of the sinking feeling of unworthiness Kim was feeling about their friendships. It was one of these unusual situations that led to Kim being so sleep deprived today. 

After school Tuesday, Kim had taken herself and Trini to the rebuilt Krispy Kreme because Trini said she would explain what happened during school and why Kim became overwhelmingly distressed about herself during Bio. (Plus she was a woman of her word.) She had been pretty thankful that none of the boys had got that flash of emotion during that period, though she later learned the boys had felt a weird little flash of anger shortly before she found her little Kitten. Anyway- Kim had all sorts of fun hearing about how Amanda had ambushed Trini to try and do… something? Kim honestly had no idea what that something was, it sounded stupid. Really who keeps a grudge for more than a fortnight? It was too much work in Kim’s mind. 

The last time she spoke to Amanda was after Rita’s attack. She had sought Amanda out to-you know- apologize and stuff. Cause she made it pretty clear their friendship was over that day and yeah, Kim understood. She had been a piece of shit and it’s no surprise her ex-friends hated her. She’s not really sure how she got friends in the first place with how annoying she probably was, but she was at least going to try and end the whole thing on a good note. Shouldn’t have been hard, right? It was hard, just not in the way she expected. 

Amanda threw her apology back in her face after violently stabbing it, so it could bleed out in Kim’s arms. 

Naturally Kim just took it in stride because, hey, she always had a suspicious feeling that most of her ex-friends found her annoying in some way or manner, Amanda admitting to it just confirmed they all hated Kim. That had been just… great, it had been like two weeks since she felt like a waste of space but, no, Amanda had been right. Kim would probably get the rangers to hate her in some way too. Anyway Amanda’s whole…”assassination” of her apology gave Kim’s mind wonderful ammunition to haunt her with as she tried to fall asleep the following days. One can only be alone with your thoughts in the dark for so long before all your regrets start to fester and force you to review them trying to fall asleep. 

Typically Kim had several methods to distract her mind so she didn’t stare into the void and, after talking with Jason, had picked up a few more. However those distractions kind of fell flat last night, even as Trini cuddled with Kim in her sleep and it didn’t help which is really telling. Telling in that despite feeling unbelievably warm and happy that Trini slept over and the rediscovery that sleepy Trini’s a cuddler; Kim’s regrets succeeded in screaming at her for most of the night. They were most likely brought on by Amanda telling Trini to not trust her. 

Her festering thoughts had continued to succeed in spite of Kim listening to some loud music that could be compared to Trini’s taste in metal. She had initially hoped, after drowning out those intrusive regrets, that she’d get bored and pass out because nothing was keeping her attention. It wouldn’t exactly be the first time she had fallen asleep to loud dance music during a late night. In the end, it was just a little after one, when a drowsy Trini had pulled Kim’s earbuds out and asked why she was still up. 

Apparently her friend had gotten up to use the bathroom and Kim hadn’t noticed. Kim was too tired to give a reasonable excuse so her mouth got away from her. She had quietly confessed about feeling like a piece of garbage, whether Amanda’s right about her being annoying, and how her ex-friends were most likely never really her friends and her whole fall from grace just gave them a convenient way to feel justified in hating her. That had been a whole different conversation when Kim told Trini about the incident that landed her in detention. 

Miraculously, in Kim’s mind that is, Trini got the most adorably confused expression before crawling back into bed. Where upon, Trini quickly resumed cuddling as she whispered sleepy reassurances to Kim that she’s a good person, that she wasn’t annoying, and something about how all her ex-friends are fuckheads that all hate each other or something. Kim wasn’t sure because by then any and all exhaustion she had, decided to make itself known when Trini’s warmth returned. Next thing Kim knew her Mum was gently shaking her awake to get ready for school. 

Thankfully, being sleep deprived in school was something Kim was used to. Said deprivation made it incredibly easy for her to pay attention in class since she didn’t have any sort of energy for things that could distract her. She didn’t even have enough to snap her thumbnails to keep her hands busy during a lull but she did anyway. Although she should probably trim her nails, they’re getting longer than she liked. Reaching her English class, Kim found out she was early enough that she had to wait for the teacher to unlock the door. 

It’s a nice little happenstance since the wait allows Kim to rest her eyes for a few minutes while leaning upon a nearby wall. Well it would’ve been a few minutes if the sound of footsteps didn’t reach her ears. Forcing her eyes open she was met by the sight of someone in an oddly dark green hoodie. Who would wear such a thing? Kim knows she should know who does. The name was on the tip of her tongue when she realized that almost no one in the school wore green. At least not consistently enough that she could associate it with someone’s name unlike what was happening with Kim and her friends. 

Specifically how they were starting to incorporate their specific ranger color with their fashion, like how she’s wearing a black and yellow flannel shirt over a tank top currently and… yeah, that makes perfect sense for her argument. She was gonna have to talk with Jace. Find out how much clothing he owned that involved primary colors, and whether they should ask Zordon about the coins influencing their choice in fashion or if it’ll bite them in the ass. At least the rangers’ shared love of fashionable outerwear was innocuous and sensible. Seriously they were practically married to their odd assortment of jackets, vests, cardigans, and boleros. Okay that last one was mostly on Kim. 

“Hey Kim.” 

_Fuck damn it,_ she did it again. She had got lost in her thoughts and even worse, Kim was staring at someone while it happened. Oh jeez, Kim hoped no one else was around. Snapping her eyes up toward the voice, Kim met stony amber eyes with what she hoped was a friendly smile or at least friendliness in her eyes. 

“Oh hey…Tomi, how are you?” There was something different about her, Kim wasn’t sure what. It wasn’t Tomi’s black hair, nor was it her brown skin that was a bit warmer than Kim’s. Her eyes still looked normal, though okay, they’re way prettier and golden with the light above them. It was something not immediately apparent, something that caused Kim’s whole perception of her to be subtly off. Almost inconspicuous-wait that was it! Tomi had braids today, and they looked rather nice in Kim’s opinion. 

“…ot looking forward to that book-” Shit, Kim hadn’t been paying attention-“Being assigned in class. I’m doing okay otherwise. How about you?” 

“I’m pretty tired. I stayed up late to finish something for another class,” not like Tomi needed to know the truth. The little nod Tomi gave her seemed like a good sign that their little series of pleasantries was finished, and Kim’s thankful for Tomi’s quiet nature. Kim knows she’s always been a little more open with her ramblings when tired, or even half awake. Much more than one would expect from a fallen queen bee. Zack had a fucking field day when he discovered it one night, though thankfully she had been aware enough to gentle prod her wandering mind into safer thoughts. Kim wasn’t really looking forward to rambling on about the people she found hot at the school. Damn truth or dare night at the bonfire. 

“…Kim?” That would’ve gone so well. 

“Yeah?” Better than how it would’ve gone with her old friends, she would admit. 

“Is Amanda always such a bitch?” Now Kim would vehemently deny that Tomi’s question ripped an ugly laugh out of her. It didn’t okay? It was an ugly cackle. There’s a difference, a big one. Thank the gods for the empty hall they were in. 

“Kinda…sometimes? I mean maybe,” Kim admitted, not entirely sure how to answer since she had seen Amanda outside of school. She also had no idea where this was really going. “Not all the time, just most of the time.” 

“I see, that would explain what happened then.” Okay now that wasn’t fair of Tomi. Making Kim curious like that. It was almost mean. 

“…Did something happen?” Redundant Kim knows, but hey, Tomi seemed to be in a talkative mood. Well at least from what she knew about the girl, so she went out on a limb. 

“Not really? I walked in on her lecturing a girl-” Kim felt her eyebrows shoot up at that bit- “yesterday. She got mad and tried to get me to leave the bathroom. Got even madder when she discovered the girl left while trying to get me to leave, interrupted me when I tried to ask Harper out too.” 

Kim was so ready to barrage Tomi with questions regarding what she walked in on. Like if she heard anything, did Amanda do anything more than talk to Trini, or if that was why Tomi’s shirt smelled of perfume during class yesterday. She had so many questions on the tip of her tongue that she was prepared to fire off and then…her chance disappeared. Their English teacher decided to show up right then as the bell rung. Kinda murdered any chance Kim had to quietly ask Tomi about the incident. 

“Weird,” Was what Kim decided to reply with as they entered their class and her conversation with Tomi ended. 

#####  Thursday

Her entire week had been a mess of weird. Just a fucking hellish mess and it was becoming unbelievably frustrating for Tomi. Frustration also happened to be something new for her (in so much as recognizing it) and she wasn’t exactly sure she liked it. She was leaning on the “not a fan” side of things since the goddamn thing never left her alone. 

It had begun with small things: weird dizzy spells when standing, her gait being off, feeling constantly tired, things being closer or further away than she remembered them and the worst thing of all; she had become clumsy. She hasn’t been considered clumsy since she was five.She found it to be fucking infuriating on top of everything else. So much so she almost kicked Colt’s teeth in for calling her clumsy. He would’ve deserved it and the fucked up teeth. 

However they all paled, just a little, in comparison to what she was experiencing today. The constant ache in her bones, her joints…her muscles, and her back. It was like persistent migraine with the way it grated on her senses, every move renewing the aches, every slight move of her body ripping her attention to the sources of pain. Daring her to try and forget about it in class. The constant tiredness just seemed to add onto this hellish ache. Diluted her focus too. Oh sure, she could move rather normally but the aches and masking of pain drained her of energy. Tomi was so thankful her Aunt was going to pick her up after school today; she knew she would be a traffic hazard in her current state. 

Needless to say, she hated this situation. So goddamn much. Tomi felt sick, like she took ill but her head and lungs were fine. It birthed a misplaced grudge in her. When she got better, she was going to spend all of her life advancing science beyond mortal understanding, so that one day she could repeatedly punch each and every deity in the fucking throat before killing them. The only thing that could make this worse was if she needed to partner up with some shit kid for one of her classes. 

“Hey.” She wasn’t going to respond to that. She’s ignoring that kid as she tries block out any light by pulling her hood further down her face. Yeah she didn’t really give a shit if she got in trouble; she felt terrible and could barely remember which class she’s in. 

“Hey,” if the kid spoke to her one more time she might answer, maybe not in a friendly manner but Tomi would answer. 

“Hey Tommy,” The hand on her shoulder was the last straw and that's excluding the mispronunciation of her name. As if it was predestined, Tomi felt her hand snap out and take hold of the intrusive hand. The same one that had just been on her shoulder when something weird caught her attention. Tomi had felt the kid tense their hand for like half a second, which gave her more than enough time to readjust so she was grabbing the kid’s wrist. 

Wasting no more time, Tomi pulled off her hood with her free hand and soon met the dark brown eyes of her classmate with a vacant look. She knew this kid. The slightly styled hair, handsome face, bashful smile, and muscled arms caused Tomi’s thoughts to come to a screeching halt as she tried to place his face. Where had she seen him? Unconsciously squeezing the boy’s wrist, Tomi soon remembered where she had seen him. 

“What are you doing-”Pushing his hand away, Tomi knew exactly where she saw his bitchass recently-“Zack?” 

“We got paired up to do some one on one reading.” She raised a brow as Zack’s smile became more natural. “For theater…the class we’re currently in?” Oh…right. How could Tomi forget she shared a class with Trini’s friend? The exact same friend, who she heard Trini calling a bitchass as everyone was leaving detention on Saturday. Well shit, looks like Tomi might have to apologize and there wasn’t a blue moon in sight. The audacity of the entire situation was stunning, nearly enough to have Tomi oblivious to the throbbing pain she was feeling from all her recent actions. 

“Oh uh…sorry, I’ve been kinda out of it today,” Yep. Tomi totally nailed that smooth apology. She hoped the smile she flashed came off as genuine at least. “So what are we reading?” 

Tomi’s got to give Zack props, the guy knew how not let awkwardness get in the way of something. After the little tiff concluded and they got to the reading things became much more pleasant. So pleasant, in fact, that Tomi found herself chuckling more often than not when Zack would crack a joke while they read. She tried really hard not to laugh at first, she did honest, but then he started to use puns and Tomi has a fondness for them. (Tomi also has a hard time not laughing at stupid shit.) It just went all downhill from there. The one upside, that Tomi would later realize, is that the laughter served as a great distraction from all the aches and fatigue. As the class ended and they went to separate classes, Tomi hoped whatever was bugging her wouldn’t grow worse in the following days. 

#####  Friday

It grew worse. 

So much worse. Fucking goddesses in heaven and devils in the hells, it got worse. Tomi wasn’t really sure how she got her ass out of bed and stumbled into school when she had to constantly grit her teeth to fight through pain. It was just one continuous blur of aches, tiredness, and tripping over her own feet as she got in and out of the shower, dressed then asked her Auntie for a ride in what amounted to as few unintelligible grumbles as possible. 

During said ride over, Tomi discovered something new under everything that was happening to her-just amplified to the highest degree. There was hunger underneath the pain, soreness, and exhaustion. Which fucking baffled her barely conscious mind because she had a very vague recollection of drowning herself in cereal that morning as a way of breakfast. There was also something else, right beside the hunger. Tomi would’ve missed it if she didn’t try to curl up and die in the car. 

Her clothes felt uncomfortably small and tight. Uncomfortably tight in fact and the hoodie she typically wore, which was always one size too big, felt like it was for a child. Her pants seemed to be shorter too, if her cold ankles were anything to go by. An odd set of weird things, and if Tomi was more coherent she probably would’ve been more bothered by it but her Auntie didn’t make any sort of comment about her clothes so she let it slip from her mind as she shuffled into school. 

Her attire probably looked fine when she was standing, even easier to overlook it while laying on a desk trying to block out the world. Cause really-if she could vocalize how she was feeling, after realizing she forgot her bag at home on top of all this pain, it would just be a long drawn out scream. 

Next thing that Tomi’s aware of is someone lightly shaking her shoulder and the ache that resides there building in intensity. Did she have some sign on her that said “shake shoulders to get a response”? She wanted to be left alone as she died a slow, miserable, and achy death. This kid was damn lucky she was feeling too terrible to process anger. 

Lifting her head she looked with bleary eyes at the face of Jason Scott, the school “traitor.” Wait…she didn’t have a class with him this early in the day, why was he here? Looking around the room, and overlooking how a certain cute girl was in Jason’s class, Tomi’s half lucid mind reached a fitting answer. The bell had rung and she was late for class. Just great, she was going to have to quickly stumble to her next class. Maybe she wouldn’t trip over her feet in her haste. 

Getting up out of her seat, Tomi knew something was really wrong with her because of three obvious things. One, she could look pretty boy Jason Scott in the eye. Now it might just be her feeling tired, but Tomi was pretty sure she was never as tall as Jason. Never ever, hell Kim was taller than her. The second thing was that…goddamn, standing up made her feel real fucking floaty. Like fuck, Tomi didn’t think she was that out of sorts and off balance or that the floor was so far away. The third one was real obvious. She took one step and stumbled into the wall before she found the floor becoming super close as her vision turned to black. 

Tomi had fainted at school. Of course, that caused a spectacle in class. One that the teacher ignored as they set out to make sure their student was okay. Once established, that yes Tomi was breathing and not bleeding, said teacher enlisted Jason’s help in carrying the girl to the nurse’s office where they explained what happened to Tomi. After they left and the nurse finished looking over Tomi, she had gone about calling Tomi’s guardian. It was during the call that Tomi began to regain consciousness. 

The first thing Tomi was aware of was, interestingly, not her aches and pains. No it was her hunger. It had been buried underneath other things earlier but now it was at the center of her mind. Unfortunately, Tomi knew how to effectively block out hunger. It’s a habit she picked up when she was younger and she never really broke it as she got older. She just knew how to make it go to the back of her mind as the pain from it subsided. 

Once that nuisance was out of the way, Tomi became pleased to find the pain from her aches was at a more manageable level. Like if they never moved on from Thursday and got worse. Now that she could deal with, though the exhaustion was worse than she remembered. 

If she wasn’t trying to figure out where she might be, Tomi would’ve just rolled back over and gone back to sleep. She clearly needed it; however she needed to know the time more. She hoped it was later in the day and not like…five minutes from whenever she passed out like what the clock on the wall suggested. Groaning to herself, Tomi sat up and bit back a hiss of pain. Okay so the pain hadn’t been reduced, she had just been in a position that was comfortable. Her day was right on track for being bad. All that was missing was a sense of impending dread. Good thing she had no idea what dread felt like so it could catch her by surprise. 

“Ms.Oliver,” Tomi was just about to get up from the bed she was laying on when some lady spoke up and grabbed her attention. “Your guardian will be coming to pick you up shortly. You should lay back down and rest.”The confusion must’ve been clear as day on Tomi’s face. 

“You fainted while trying to get to second period. Mr.Scott-” there was a strange emphasis on Scott that Tomi couldn’t quite identify-“and your first period teacher carried you to my office. How are you feeling? Any aches or pains? Do you remember anything before you fainted?” 

“…Okay, I guess? Tired. My joints ache too,” Tomi replied as she noticed the nurse moving over to her. “I remember getting up from my seat, feeling dizzy and off balance. I took a step and ended up against a wall before everything became black.” 

“Hmm, might’ve been vertigo. Have you felt feverish?” The nurse spoke as she went about checking Tomi’s eyes. Tomi wasn’t really sure for what since the exhaustion was doing a number on her. “When did the aches appear?” 

Tomi only offered a shrug in reply before explaining about how she felt Thursday with no sign of a fever. Her answers just caused the nurse to hum a few more times. Eventually said nurse spoke about Tomi possibly coming down with the flu and the dizziness could’ve been a result of dehydration, and suggested she lay back down and rest until Tomi’s guardian arrived. Seeing no real reason to argue, Tomi went back to lying on the cot as she tried to find something to think about. Anything really, maybe she could try and figure out why that damn coin would get all bothered and hot when around a few people. 

It’s not like it knew who she found attractive, especially since the damn thing didn’t combust her pants when she was in half her classes. Plus lust was a debatable feeling for her. Maybe the people that made that rock-coin thing heat up had something in common though that would be harder to figure out, cause seriously, what did they have in common? 

Jason and Kimmy had being at the top of the social ladder and then their falls from grace. Zack and Trini were loners, kinda, as far as she could tell. Billy was the odd one out; though Tomi felt like she was missing something that caused them to all becomes friends. Something obvious. Some place where they could all meet up outside school…like detention. Tomi feels her sigh more than hears it. 

She couldn’t believe she forgot about detention. The detention they all share. This exhaustion was really doing a number on her. That in mind, Tomi decided that the first she was going to do when she got home was lay down and hibernate until winter. Wait, no, she was going to eat something and then hibernate. 

That was a better course of action. Plan in mind, Tomi got comfortable on the cot as she closed her eyes. She probably had a good ten minutes before her Aunt arrived unless she was already at the school. Well either way, Tomi felt like taking the chance to catch up on sleep. Perhaps if she felt better later, she would go out and puzzle through some stray thoughts. Maybe the beach wouldn’t be so crowded tonight. 

Not five minutes later, the sound of shoes on linoleum soon caught Tomi’s ear. They sounded rather quick and in a hurry so may-yep. The person who was entering the nurse’s office was her Aunt. Alright she was now one step closer to being home and hibernating ‘til winter. Sitting up, Tomi quietly waved when she met her Aunt’s gaze before the nurse began talking about what happened and her thoughts. Tomi wasn’t really paying attention as she got up off the cot and quietly shuffled to her Aunt’s side. A minute later, she was walking towards their car beside her Aunt. 

Once in the car, Tomi gently deflected her Aunt’s questions. As far as she could tell she wasn’t coming down with anything. Just the odd pains of growing if Tomi had to place blame on something. Being amenable with her Aunt’s request of going back to sleep might’ve helped win her over too. ‘Sides wouldn’t be the first day Tomi spent moving while feeling like shit. 

Thankfully the ride back home was short and after devouring a mess of food stuffs that would warrant a trip to the market, Tomi found herself collapsing onto her bed to do as she planned earlier. Sleep like the dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So another chapter, bit of a long one too. We got to see that something up's with Tomi aside from her surviving. Any guesses to why she's feeling terrible? Probably won't swap pov like this again. Any mistakes are my own.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a fight in the beginning, doesn't get bloody but it happens.  
> Also I want to tell people that this fic isn't normally serious. I think I forgot to mention it before.

##### Friday Night

After sleeping for a good eleven hours, and then eating an inordinate amount of food once again, Tomi somehow found herself wandering the beach without torturous pain or fatigue. The same beach she had wandered along last Saturday when she almost died. She might’ve also placated her Aunt (again) while she was eating so she could go out after sleeping all day. Anyway she had made a discovery once there. One, she realized, that could explain her balance problem. 

Her center of gravity changed over the week. 

Fan-fucking-tastic. Said change made itself readily apparent as she was going through some katas at a nice empty section of the beach. She caught herself overextending on some of them, multiple times, and the odd landing or two was noticeably harder to do. Messing up a cartwheel just further confirmed it in her mind, though she had never been particularly acrobatic. 

She would’ve done some soccer drills to further her theory but she lacked the gear. She was going to have redo all of her damn katas for a while just to get familiar with this change. Tomi might even need to get in touch with her martial arts teacher if it was persisted. Fuck, she was going to need a new wardrobe too. Goddamn it why did everything get small!? At the very least, she could check on the gold and maybe take it. Speaking of which, now that she was thinking about it, it would be a good idea to go and act on that plan. 

It was indeed still there. Well some of it, the animal jawbone was missing. She wasn’t too concerned about that. It was the melted puddles of gold that she was interested in and that, thankfully, was still there. So with a little bit of work and her newfound strength which she needed to test someday; Tomi was able to effectively contort the gold into a transportable mass. A mass that she not so easily stuffed into her hoodie’s pocket as she made her way back towards her car. 

On the way to her car, while lightly thumbing the gold in her pocket, Tomi discovered a strange thing or two. One was this weird knot in her tummy. It was very peculiar since she had experienced nausea before and this was similar, but it seemed to grow worse the further away she was from the inlet. The same inlet where she had found the gold and coin the previous week, and it gave her this notion that she should go back to look around some more. The coin vibrating also didn’t help assuage said notion. If anything, it strengthened it in Tomi’s mind. 

Alas before she could act on it and go back, the strangest thing happened. Two boys that apparently recognized her, stopped her, and asked if she was who they thought they were. She didn’t really answer because the two of them set her on edge. They were told she was small and constantly wore a dark green hoodie. Unsurprisingly that hoodie was the one she was wearing currently and helped confirm her identity to them. She wasn’t sure if she’s ever been more betrayed by an article of clothing before. 

“Well since you seem to be the girl who put our boy in the hospital,” the would-be leader said with what Tomi figured was a smug grin, “We figure we oughta return the favor.” 

Great. They wanted a fight because she put an abusive boyfriend in the hospital. Tomi really didn’t want to fight, but damn it maybe she could end it quickly. The situation did seem like a great time to test her new strength. 

“Now how about you be all defenseless-like and let us put you in the hospital, like a good little girl.” 

Tomi felt a subtle scowl work its way onto her face. They were now being ridiculous. Thinking she would let it happen. Absolutely ridiculous. Whatever restraint she might’ve had just evaporated. 

The boy closest to her, the one that hadn’t talked, took a step towards her. Tomi’s almost sure it was supposed to be menacing but recent experiences had kind of jumbled how she views menacing, although it did cause Tomi to react. She lashed out and backhanded him across the face. Much to everyone’s surprise, especially Tomi’s, the lad dropped to the ground like a rock. After taking a moment to process her shock- _Was that a snap I heard?_ \- she turned her gaze to the would-be leader. 

He was still getting through the shock from what Tomi could see. Perfect. She couldn’t have hoped for a better result. Taking a step towards him, Tomi planned on trying to end this quickly. She had heard sand shifting when she backhanded the other guy, and well, last Saturday was coloring her reaction. 

It, the sound, didn’t sit right in her mind. It went on _too long_ ; it was _too loud_ , and _too fast_ in her mind. That was enough to incite her nerves, making her want to end this confrontation as quickly as possible. Speaking of which, the other lad finally noticed how she was closing in and proceed to swing at her. 

His swing was what Tomi was hoping for, since she was more than ready to endure the hit as she threw her right fist forward. Smashing right into the would-be leader’s throat with a crunch, meanwhile his punch smacked harmlessly against her shoulder. He stumbled to the ground almost as quick as the first attacker. His gasping for air was different though. Unfortunately that didn’t register in Tomi’s mind as the sound of rocks being scrapped together reached her ears. Sand shifting was one thing; rocks scrapping together were another thing entirely. 

Sending a quick kick into the would-be leader’s side to make sure he stayed down, Tomi took the chance to look behind her. Yep, those fucking rock…monster-golem things popped up again. Even better, they were advancing toward her and the lads. Not taking a chance to tempt fate again, Tomi broke into a sprint leaving the two lads to their fate. The sickening crunch of bones caused her to pick up the pace. 

Reaching her car, Tomi found herself pausing at the door. She could just leave the monsters to wander around during the night though that had the increased likelihood that those…”boys” would be found later. Probably as a goopy paste in the sand from what she heard, but something about it didn’t sit right with her. She wasn’t quite sure what it was. Perhaps it was the fact that if she just left, the monsters would wander around unhindered and probably kill more people. Seemed likely, though her ability to care could only stretch so far and the situation was pushing it. 

Sighing to herself, Tomi walked away from her car and began to look around for a payphone. There had to be at the beach’s parking lot, right? Said parking lot and boardwalk were old enough to still have a few, right? She wasn’t entirely sure why she was going to call emergency services since the Palette-Swap Patrol would handle those things better, although attention on them couldn’t hurt. “Them” being the rock monster, and it was sound enough in Tomi’s mind. More attention on them, a greater chance the Danger Strangers would appear and stop them before they did extensive damage to the town. 

Hey, if there was one thing Tomi didn’t like about the rock monsters it was the property damage they caused in the attack. Well aside from almost beating her to death. They caused way too much damage in her mind, it was downright ridiculous. Did that "Gold Killer" imbue them with the spirit of vandals? Snickering at her thoughts, Tomi gently shooed them away as she finally found a payphone. 

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” 

“Rock monsters! At the beach! They’re attacking everyone!!” 

“Someone’s on their way, are you safe?” 

“Hurry please; I think they killed some people!” 

Once everything was said and done, Tomi hung up. Rather abruptly if she might add. Good deed done, Tomi ran back over to her car and left the beach. She had best get some sleep; she still had detention after all. 

##### Saturday morning

Detention was playing out to be just like Tomi’s week. Strange, unusual, and mildly disconcerting. It began with all the looks she garnered when she entered the room. If she had been in a better mood, she might’ve joked that she was prettier than she normally was, but she didn’t. It was just a side effect of her going to bed two hours ago. She really needed to stop falling asleep at six in the morning these past few weekends. Shouldn’t be too hard to shift it to three, right? Tomi wasn't exactly a night owl, though that seemed to be changing ever since she got kicked off the team. 

Sleeping habits aside, one of the stranger things were the few select kids that kept looking at her all throughout detention. These select kids obviously being Mister Jason Scott, Zack, Kimmy, and Billy. Now that was strange. Especially since Zack was doing an actually decent job of being discrete. Billy, on the other hand, she could bless him for being so obvious. She wouldn’t have noticed the others if it weren’t for him. Although the last time Billy did such a thing he ended up asking her something after a class in his own little way, which caused her to raise an eyebrow. That might’ve also been the same year she moved in with her Aunt back before Angel Grove, so she could be wrong. Tomi hadn’t really interacted with Billy beyond several group projects over the years. 

He seemed like a nice kid from what Tomi could tell, and thankfully, he wasn’t all that bothered by how quiet she initially was in middle school. His sympathy…made that one group project particular stress-free in retrospect. Thankfully, the four of them soon knew that she knew they were looking and stopped with the whole inconspicuous staring. Well after they did a weird four way glance and eye conversation between each other that had Tomi chuckling to herself. They looked rather funny because they tried to be subtle about it. 

However, it wasn’t long after they stopped looking that Tomi soon heard the most interesting sound. It was a “fwip”-like sound. It reminded her of swinging a branch fast enough to “cut” the air or at the notion of cutting. It wasn’t long before Tomi began trying to find the source of the “fwips”. She wasn’t having much luck but she did notice something else while she was looking. The four kids, that odd little misfit group, would occasionally raise their hand and catch something? Tomi couldn’t quite make out what they would be catching, but they weren’t exactly trying to get the adult’s attention. It was after a few more hand raises that one of her eyebrows rose. 

Said eyebrow rose even further when she began to realize the catching happened a little bit after a “fwip” sounded. So okay, something was definitely up with those kids…and Trini since she just saw the girl raise her hand up like the others. Well, Trini was part of their misfit group, after all, so it shouldn’t have surprised her. 

What did surprise her was hearing Zack gasp suddenly. Turning her gaze to him, Tomi noticed he was shaking his hand as if it just got stung while reaching for something on the ground. The something being a piece of paper…a note!? A scant few seconds later, she saw him whip it across the room as Jason’s hand rose up. 

Tomi rolled her eyes. The “fwips” were notes being passed. Spirits, she had hoped it was something more interesting. Something to liven up this detention she was stuck in. Quickly losing interest in the notes they were passing despite the unusual speed, Tomi turned to the work she needed to get done. She had quite a bit of reading to do if she wanted her week nights free. 

It was when everyone was leaving that yet another strange thing happened. Tomi ended up overhearing Jason telling someone to go on ahead, without “them”, to the quarry. Now his words might’ve just originally flown under Tomi’s radar if the damn coin in her pocket- the big, slightly unwieldy coin- didn’t heat up at his words. If she wasn’t as tired, she might’ve ducked back into the detention room to pull out the coin and ask what the hell it was doing but then Billy and Jason ended up meeting her gaze. Where upon Billy waved as Jason got her attention. 

“Hey Tommy.” Tch, she was gonna have to talk to Jason about saying her name if they were going to interact more. 

“Yes hello, Billy. Jason.” Tomi greeted with what she hoped was a sincere little smile. “Anything I can do for you?” 

“Are you feeling alright Tomi?” The strange just kept coming it seems, since it was Billy who spoke first. 

“Well enough. Is there, um, something you wanted to ask me?” 

“Are your joints okay? 

“My what?” 

“Your elbows, knees, shoulders. Your joints, are they okay?” Now that question set Tomi a little on edge, Billy asking if her joints were okay. What little of a smile she had on fell from her face. She was pretty damn sure she never gave an indication that they hurt Thursday in the class they shared. Friday was a different matter since she didn’t go. 

“…Yes? What makes you think they aren’t?” Now if there’s one additional thing Tomi liked about Billy, it was how easy it was to get him to share information. All she had to do was ask some gentle questions that prodded the flow of conversation into the direction she wanted, and he would willingly divulge information surrounding his questions. This time she was being a little more direct but hopefully she’d find out why he was thinking such things. 

“It’s just that-well…you’ve seem to have gained a few inches, over the week, and well that got me curious about growth spurts. So I read up on it a little-very strange stuff, not like engineering though a comparison could be made that t -” 

“Billy.” Jason interrupted softly and gave Billy a gentle look while Tomi’s eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at him. He cut off the answers she was getting, and well, she wasn’t fond of that. 

“Right. It’s just the-uh- growth you were going through over the week was unusual and I was worried. Well more worried, because of what Jason said happened Friday.” Billy said as he completed his original thought. Now that caught Tomi’s attention, since…yes, she was pretty sure she had gone through a growth spurt during the week. Especially with the fact that she had to look down slightly to meet Kimmy’s gaze. 

“Unusual how? “ 

“Well going off your height from last week, I would say that your height is unusual.” 

“My height?” Now Billy had Tomi’s attention, and apparently Jason’s. 

“Yeah, I mean you’re taller than Jason currently. Not by much, like an inch or four, but that’s a good eight or nine inches since last Saturday.” Billy said casually as if explaining the weather. 

For Tomi, it explained a good deal. Like how her clothes barely fit, and the change in her balance. Honestly she felt a little silly for not picking it up earlier. Didn’t really explain all the pain she felt those last two days but if what he said was anything to go by, the pain was a symptom of the growth. This new fact firmly in her mind, Tomi realized she now had a few extra things to do today…namely buying a whole new wardrobe-GOD DAMN IT! She was going to have to ask her Aunt for help. 

“Thank you for the concern Billy, I’m fine. Thank you as well, Jason for helping me to the Nurse yesterday,” Tomi said as she nodded absently in response to Billy’s explanation, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to do today.” 

“See you in class.” Billy said in parting as they watched her walk away. A wave was her only reply and as she turned a corner, Jason pulled out his coin and began to gently wave it. 

“Billy did your coin become hotter than normal?” Jason asked as he tried to remember when it began to heat up. It was like right in the middle of Tomi talking to Billy. 

“Yeah, it’s pretty hot. Do you think something caused it?” Billy said taking his out and began to bounce it between his hands like a hot potato. 

“I’m not sure. We should probably ask Alpha.” 

##### Later that evening 

Tomi wasn’t really sure why she ended up at the beach, again, for the second night in a row. There wasn’t any more gold besides what she pawned off, which had been a rather disappointing sum. She almost felt cheated but considering how Tomi found it, it was best to take what’s given. Least that "Gold Killer" somehow comes back and hunts for it; also she had been pressed for time. Thankfully she was able to use most of it for her new wardrobe so it was relatively hidden in possessions. 

On the other hand, maybe it had something to do with what she felt the other night. Near the inlet and that strange ass feeling that appeared. It would succinctly explain why she was currently walking towards the same inlet once more, while feeling the same knot in her tummy from the previous night. Right before she put those lads down that is. It was like there was something there reaching out for her, or her coin, and what she was feeling was directing her to it. Now let it not be said that she liked her control being taken away, she had to learn early on how to be independent and some unknown thing influencing her to such a degree was bothersome. 

More than bothersome, it was infuriating. However, she wasn’t above using it to find out the source so she could possibly break it, or kill it. Whichever works, because how dare that damn coin and whatever’s causing it to vibrate make her feel nausea when she wasn’t. 

Really, she did not like being controlled in any manner. It was related to the reason to why she avoided parties after the first two because fuuuuuck all that alcohol and those people. Goddamn she was happy about the lack of invites after the fight. Another reason was more…possessive. So yeah, she was going to find what was making her feel funny and trying to get her to do what it wanted and just maybe- just maybe, gouge out their eyes. See how they like it when they’re reliant on others. 

…Wow. 

Okay, Tomi did not want to work herself up like that especially with that line of thinking. She was going to be cool, calm, and collected when she confronted whatever was influencing her and her coin. Finally at the inlet, with her phone’s flashlight on, Tomi began to look for suspicious things. Things she might’ve missed the other two times she was here like say a hand, or some sort of alien tech, or…a cave? The hell was a cave doing here? Okay so Tomi felt an argument could be made that it was an alcove or something considering the inlet and the…like little lagoon that was within the inlet. 

Unfortunately, as Tomi stepped into the possible alcove-slash-cave she found it to be deeper than she thought and darker than the outside. Like seriously, it should’ve gone on for maybe ten or twenty yards before she hit the back of the cave-alcove thing but she hadn’t yet. The light from the entrance was slowly dwindling too. Right so it was officially a cave, and damn it, she just now became curious since the knot disappeared. Well that and how the ground slanted downward the further she went in. 

After what felt like an hour of walking, despite her phone lying to her and saying it had only been twenty minutes, Tomi soon stumbled upon something that just didn’t belong. Well, belong in a cave that was likely under Angel Grove’s beach. She’s pretty fucking sure there shouldn’t be what looks like metal plates in the goddamn walls, or actual metal walls in a cave. It was a weird transition going from rock to rock and metal to just metal. One that had her scratching her head, she should’ve noticed that earlier during the “rock and metal” section of the cave. Ultimately, it added just a bit of sourness to her mood. 

Tomi felt herself scowl. She better not have been led to some sort of ancient and/or secretive prison by what’s influencing her. Cause it would hardly faze her, she was set on gouging out some eyes and this vault-like prison wasn’t going to stop her. In fact, she was more determined now just to make sure the deities would be sorely disappointed if they thought an undiscovered prison filled with possible horrors, which may or may not be arcane, were going to stop her when she’s been fucked with. They and the thing influencing her could get fucked. No one messed with her autonomy. 

Wait…she was doing it again. Tomi was working herself up. Fucking damn it, now wasn’t the time! 

Taking a moment and a deep breath, Tomi firmly pushed those thoughts and what anger she could feel down into the recesses of her mind. She would be angry later, in a place that couldn’t possibly influence her. Once the moment passed, and her anger was effectively dealt with, she resumed her exploration. Walking deeper into the not-so-secret prison, Tomi became quite curious about why _she_ would be led here. There were numerous people that lived in Angel Grove that could be led down here, so why her in particular? Surely the primeval thing, or things, residing in this place know there are better options. 

Best guess she could come up with involves her coin, especially since the damn thing’s still vibrating. Honestly, if it was got any faster Tomi was sure it would burn a hole in her pants. She would have continued with griping about her coin and its arousal problems, however, something just had to groan in the distance causing the entire cave-slash-prison to rumble forcing Tomi to brace herself. 

_The hell was that?_ Her ponderous thought seemed to be coincidentally answered by another rumble going through the area. 

Yep, she definitely walked into a prison or some vault. Fucking wonderful. Tomi felt the hair on her neck raise and began to idly wonder if she entered the Underworld instead. It would be so typical of her luck. 

Either way, some distant metallic groans and rumbling wouldn’t scare her. She was going to do what she came there for. Continuing on, after the rumbling stopped, Tomi soon came upon several paths. Three specifically; one on the left, another on the right, and the third continuing forward, Tomi was going to hate herself if she got lost because of some paths. Nearly fucking identical paths at that. Grumbling to herself, Tomi reached into her pocket and proceeded to throw down some change before she took the left path. 

Five minutes later, Tomi reached a section of the “prison” that was rock and metal instead of just all metal like the hallways she had been in. Next to still being pitch-black, there seemed to be a pool of some sort in the middle of the room. Tomi didn’t really feel like touching whatever was in the pool but she felt it might’ve just been water. Well it was also pretty blue from what she could see by her phone’s flashlight. Making the area she entered some sort of subterranean lake…in a “prison”. She really hoped that this area wasn’t used to contain some kind of serpent; she was really not in the mood to fight something in the water. 

Yes, Tomi was almost positive, that whatever serpent was in the lake would drag her into it to drown and/or eat her. Maybe even gore her if it was horned, she wasn’t really leaving anything to chance. 

That in mind, Tomi began to walk around the lake-sticking close to the nearest wall- and soon found another hallway. One that actually seemed to have some sort light or something along the path since it wasn’t a void of darkness like the area she had just walked through; anyway, she would’ve walked down it if her light didn’t glint against something in the middle of the lake…above the water. 

Tomi had to be sure it wasn’t copper; she could deal with lots of things, but copper being above a lake was where a line was crossed for her. Gods be scorned. If it was copper, she was going to run. She remembered the stories her Mom told her and…okay; she had nothing to be afraid of. Those were just stories and she had super strength. Kind of. Tomi was just in some underground cave with a lake, in the dark, and she was the only one there. 

Completely normal. 

Taking a few cautious steps towards the shore, Tomi checked the ground around her to make sure there was no possible metal near the shoreline. Once firmly establishing that there wasn’t any metal near her, namely copper, Tomi turned her attention to the glint in the middle of the lake. The closer she got, the more it glinted, and soon she saw that it had a kind of a white hue to it. Of course, coming to a stop at the shore’s edge allowed her to realize that the source of the glint was actually some sort of silver…or something that had a gunmetal luster. 

Strange, very strange. 

Now that her childhood fears were assuaged, Tomi became quite puzzled by the appearance of silver in the air above a lake. It was very peculiar, so much so that she began looking around the silver and found a wall to her left. Okay that wasn’t strange, but from what she could make out…the silver was resting against said wall. Not actually a part of it. Nodding to herself in thought, Tomi turned her light to the right of the silver and found what seemed to be…a black metal rectangle-like shape that led to more silver and what looked to be four tubes? 

The hell were they doing down here? 

Grumbling about her distance from the object, Tomi proceeded to make good use of her phone’s camera feature by zooming in. Yep, that additional silver was indeed tubes, but they had weird breaks that split the tubes up. They almost looked like fingers, the breaks being where knuckles would be, but that just further confused Tom unless… 

Taking a step back, Tomi went about taking a panoramic photo because she was not going to like the implication if the tubes were indeed fingers. 

Photo taken and Tomi finally getting a more complete picture of the silver and metal, she felt the hair on her neck raise once more. 

Those tubes were definitely fingers, and the silver was part of an arm. The black was more of a really greenish black, but that thought was lost as she soon looked above the arm. Above to where she figured a head would be. She was met with a red “eye” looking at her. One “eye” soon became two as whatever she found seemed to have activated and turned to meet her gaze. 

This was where Tomi knew something was wrong. Two red eyes and a…metal hand did not mean good things, and as the ground rumbled from the thing turning to face her, she soon had her worries confirmed. Unfortunately, she was rooted to the ground, so she was stuck looking at it instead of doing something sensible. 

Where before she looked and saw a hand, she now saw a polished silver circle with six additional red lights arranged in a five-pointed star pattern. That did not look good. Not at all. A shock to her system came when her eyes traveled above the circle and lights to where...the eyes would be. 

...Now Tomi would readily admit to turning around and bolting down the hallway she found upon realizing some mechanical kaiju met her gaze. The ear splitting, metallic roar that sounded before dissolving into static just further confirmed it. Well! At least she found the source of the rumbling. Not taking a chance to look behind her, even with the reverb sounding far off, Tomi hastily ducked into another partially lit hallway. Maybe she’d be able to find a small, closed off room she could hide in. It was just her luck that the hallway would lead into a room that was partially caved-in. 

Fan-frigging-tastic. 

Not taking a chance, Tomi stuck flat against the nearest wall and waited several moments. She was really hoping that the kaiju knock off or whatever it was, wouldn’t come crashing through the walls. Three more pulse pounding moments later, the reverb completely died down and Tomi was sure the ground wasn’t shaking so…it didn’t follow. Okay. 

She escaped death! Woo!! 

Taking a good two minutes to laugh at the predicament she just escaped and the absurdity of it all, Tomi held up her phone. She was going to take a picture of this moment- a real spur of the moment one- that she would delete later. Victory picture snapped a moment later, Tomi felt her laughter die down as she began to fiddle with her phone. She had to find out where in the hells she was, because she’s pretty sure she would’ve seen an actual beast if she was in the underworld. At least her GPS was working, and-yep, she was underneath Angel Grove. Fucking...thanks technology! 

Tomi wasn’t sure why she thought it’d tell her how far underground she was. Sighing to herself, Tomi scanned the room. She was probably going to have to retrace her steps and possibly go past a mechanical monster. Wonderful, though the little raised platform that was slightly crushed by the cave in was curious. 

Almost as curious as the rocks in the room, they looked…glassy to Tomi. Figuring she had nothing better to do until she left, Tomi made her way over to the little platform and began to inspect the glassy-rock. It was most unusual, although her thoughts were cut short when she stepped fully onto the platform. Said action caused another rumble to resonate through the “prison”/lair thing, making Tomi leap from it as if burned then the lights came on. Well most of them at least, and yep she was definitely in some weird freaky metal complex-prison thing. Surprise of the damn decade, it was. 

However, what caught Tomi’s attention was the platform she just leapt off of. There was now a green translucent figure, like the duders who saved the town during the attack, floating slightly above the platform. It was crackling, or flickering more like, in and out of focus. Most curious, along with the fact that her bloody coin was heating up like it was in detention. Slapping her pocket containing the coin, Tomi put her phone into one of her hoodie’s pocket as she weighed her options while removing her sweater. 

She could step on it. There wasn’t really any downside, outside of maybe the coin becoming hotter. The best thing would be if the damn coin finally stopped vibrating. Not stepping on the platform would just lead to nothing but her coin still being hot, so she really had nothing to lose. Shrugging at the options, as she set her hoodie down, she walked back towards the platform-squaring up with the translucent image-and fully stepped back onto it. Her decision was made. Tomi was certainly not expecting to feel and recognize the sensation of her skin melting off when she came to a stop. 

It was purely through reflex that Tomi didn’t scream out in pain; instead she bit into her cheek while her blunted nails dug half-moons into her palms as she proceeded to stomp one of her feet. Now, it might be pertinent to note that Tomi’s immediate response was similar to her earlier one. Where she shot halfway across the room, as the lights came on…well she tried that. It didn’t work, apparently this gods be damned platform caused most of her body to lock up. If she could think through the blistering pain that was now crawling up her back, she would be swearing up and down about never trusting her fucking coin again. It’s been nothing but trouble. Just fucking trouble all the time. 

An eternity later, relatively speaking, when blood began to drip from Tomi’s clenched hands did the pain stop. Although it wasn’t a gradual diminishing of the fire in and on her skin, oh no, it was like a switch being turned off. The crackling in the platform was probably not a good sign either. This switching off also caused her to fall to the ground-well platform- like a sack of bricks as she fought back to the urge to scream. 

_I'm alone here. Alone. No one would hear, no one would respond._

She had best work through the pain in silence. Letting out a shaky gasp, and some nearly audible whimpers, Tomi soon found the strength to get back on her feet. 

It was a shaky and upright four minutes later, that Tomi noticed a change. A very unusual change-her hands seemed to be partially covered in this green wet-suit-like material with some kind of green armor plate on the back of her hands. Oh also apparently, she had green armor bracers on along with armored pants? Well okay maybe not complete pants since it seemed like the wet-suit thing didn’t extend past her knees into the weird green boots she was wearing. 

Fucking wonderful. She needed to get a better picture of what changed. 

Stomping over to where she set her hoodie, she deftly pulled out her phone and set about using the camera as an impromptu mirror. She made a few discoveries: like how she was looking like a half-ass Danger Stranger cosplay (seriously the chest plates could be so much better), her neck having some sort of brace on and around it, that her coin was now in some sort of socket that was over her navel, her face and hair were completely untouched and uncovered though and lastly –with the help of a picture- there seemed to be a weird diamond segment pattern going up and down her spine. This was just fucking great, at least she was like eighty seven percent covered. 

What next?! Was she going to run into the Awesome Angels of Angel Grove? It would be the perfect way for Fate to fuck her over. 

Speaking of which, she should probably leave this prison…complex-thing, she was in. It was most likely theirs and well, she would rather not be around for them to find her. Well she would rather meet them when they can’t make out her face. Picking up her jacket, Tomi slipped out of the room with the intent of leaving this place. Unfortunately she didn’t want to cross paths with a mechanical monstrosity again so she took a random path when she got to a split. Tomi figured she was going in the right direction, since the path was going up instead of down, maybe there would be some sort of loop that brought her back to the start. Sadly…it was not to be. 

A little while later, with no short of befuddlement, Tomi soon came upon some weird ass red windows in a small weird ass room. It was a very cramped room, though that might just been because she was standing and there was a chair and a console-but she had wanted to look out the windows, okay? When she finally got a good look, she suddenly felt very faint. The red windows weren’t windows. She wasn’t in a room; she was in the mechanical knockoff, the one that she saw earlier…if she was the only one in this area, how did the machine roar? Stumbling to the only seat in the room, Tomi felt it pretty prudent to have a sit down. 

She might've hunched over but so what? It was her serious thinking pose. 

_Right so…if I’m in Mecha now, and I’m the only one here, then that means...it should be safe for me to go past it. Exit here I co-!!_

Tomi nearly shrieked as she felt something latch onto her back, in between her shoulder blades, and pull her flush against the seat while two things flew into her hands. 

“The fuckin hel-“ Tomi’s bewildered curse was cut short as the feeling of falling met her senses. The sound of water splashing, made her think she was dropped into the subterranean lake, and with the way the red…eye windows had water steadily rising outside of them confirmed it. Honestly it made her wonder if this was what being in a car as it sunk into water was like. 

Of course, that thought was short-lived because a deep unnerving anxiousness set in. How was she going to get out, if she was at the bottom of some fucking underground lake? Trying to stand up from the seat proved futile since Tomi would always snap back into it, though she did notice Mecha would thrash about during her attempts at escaping the chair. Perhaps putting down whatever was in her hands would help. Unless…they just wanted to stay there, damn things. This was the coin all over again, only worse since she was trapped. 

Taking a few breaths to try and collect her thoughts, Tomi tried to at least deal with one thing she could likely control. If Mecha was anything like a car, then it stands to reason, that Mecha had lights of some sort that she could use them to see in this water. Cause obviously, if she could she see in the water she could maybe find a tunnel or something that led out to the coast. Sounds reasonable, right? How else could a subterranean lake form? 

Unhanding the…joystick things that seemed glued to her hand, and promptly ignoring how they just floated in mid-air, Tomi began to randomly push buttons. She had some hope that she wouldn’t accidentally fire off some rockets, or laser beams, and it was with some trepidation that she soon found some sort of LED menu popping up. Not leaving anything to chance regarding a menu, Tomi decided against randomly pressing on the menu and tried something else instead. Maybe saying what she wanted would work better with a menu up. 

“Lights please. I can't see.” Vocalizing her desire got her somewhere, since the menu changed to a different one though it still didn’t look like what she wanted. 

“No, lights.” Another menu. 

“No. Lights.” A different menu. 

“Lights!” Finally, when she was about ready to try clapping, did a menu pop up that looked like a head light shining. Seeing no better sign than that, Tomi pressed on the menu and the lake was partially illuminated by the lights positioned on Mecha. There were apparently more than she thought. Breathing a sigh of relief at that working, Tomi set about finding some sort of exit. 

It was about twenty minutes later that Tomi finally broke the water’s surface. She hoped she was close to Angel Grove, she really didn’t want be halfway across an ocean…then again one of the only reasons why she broke the surface was because she had reached a “shallow” part that let Mecha stand on the floor. Looking to her right just showed more water causing her to worry, though when she looked to her left she felt a sigh escape her lips. She was near a coastline. Spirits, she was unbelievably thankful for that though wait...Holy fuck, she knew that coastline! The tunnel she found led out to Angel Grove’s coast. 

Oh she was feeling so damn lucky she was so close to the town. Taking a few lumbering steps toward the beach, Tomi was not really prepared for a small object to go speeding by her head. The surprise caused her to reflexively swipe near her head as if it was a fly. This might’ve also had the unintended side effect of causing Mecha to roar which caused Tomi to groan. 

_Why not tell everyone where we are, Mecha?_

The cover of night only did so much, though that was kind of moot since Mecha’s lights were still on. 

Speaking of which, and out of a kneejerk reaction at revealing her presence, Tomi immediately set about turning off the lights since she didn’t currently have to swim through an abyss. Might’ve also helped hide her from whatever the fuck flew past her head just then. Thankfully the thing didn’t make another pass near her, as far as Tomi could tell, so she began the slow walk to the beach. She was just really tired, fed up with control systems, and she just wanted out of this damn chair. Tomi had some small hope that if she got out of Mecha, and told her to go back to the prison, Mecha would. 

Either that or Tomi was going to have to swim all the way back, and she wasn’t really looking forward to that. She would grumble all the way. 

It was after a good few minutes of lumbering towards the shore that Tomi saw something unusual. Well unusual from the height she was at since from what she could tell she was standing above the town like that gold colossus. Anyway, the beach and boardwalk were within sight when something off to the side caught her eye. It looked to be coming from where the quarry would be, which was kind of up and behind the boardwalk, though that was really far away. 

Either way it looked like a little human was walking on the horizon, how curious. However, Tomi needed to focus on getting to shore since she didn’t want to step on people when she got there. It was evening, it wasn’t night, there were likely to be beach party goers or whatever there and they would probably look like ants at this height. Unless Mecha's earlier roar scared them off. Plus she also didn’t want to get out of Mecha when she was so far out. The damn current would probably snap her up if she tried to swim towards the shore. 

It should go without saying, that Tomi’s dismissal of the little human was what led to her being surprised by the big human that walked into her line of sight near the beach. Well she was closer to the beach, to the point where she could make out how small the buildings looked, when the human walked up. Tomi was forever thankful for streetlights because they revealed the human’s legs to her and-yeah, human’s don't have gray and black or blue legs at that height. Humans aren’t that taller than buildings to begin with, but her point was obvious. 

Quickly going off its colors, height, appearance, and odd wing-like protrusions, which she could make out with some difficulty, Tomi soon realized what the human was. The human was the thing/robot that had fought the gold titan during the attack...Just great! What was it doing here? She wasn’t doing anything malicious; she was just coming back from a stroll. A nice little swim too, though quickly realizing that it was coming towards her Tomi tried to do the least combative thing possible. You know, because she didn’t want to fight the Paint-by-Numbers Protectors that saved the city. Apparently she had completely forgotten that she was doing a bad cosplay of one currently. 

Sticking with the desire to avoid conflict-giant mechanical conflict at that- Tomi kept her bearings as the giant robot came at her, but with just a slight deviation in the path she was walking. A deviation that was slightly right from center, if center was being her old course that would’ve caused her to collide with the giant robot. Thus it might’ve come as a surprise to them, not Tomi, when she harmlessly went past their left side and continued merrily on her way. Unfortunately, Tomi forgot how mobile the Protectors’ robot was since her grand plan was foiled when they grabbed Mecha’s left arm with their left hand. 

Well that wouldn’t do. 

Turning inward towards the robot, kind of in a counter-clockwise motion, Tomi proceeded to do a stationary three sixty spin in some small hope that their grip wasn’t tight enough. It was, and it also caused Mecha to receive a punch from their other hand across the face, however Tomi just rolled with it and continued her spin. She was going to be the bigger person-wait, bigger mechanical kaiju more like, and not fight. She had noticed, while going over various controls during her swim, that Mecha had some sort of object on her tail. Now obviously, Tomi had no idea what it was since she never saw it-but! She was hoping her little spin would allow for the object and tail to smack the Protectors’ in the back. Get them off balance so she and Mecha could continue on their merry way. 

In the end…she was successful, much to her surprise. The object and Mecha’s tail squarely impacted the giant robot in the back, causing it to be thrown off balance and allowing Tomi to break free as she continued her stationary spin. Once said spin was complete, she decided to ignore them and continue onto the beach. Upgrading her lumbering walk to a lively but still lumbering speed walk, Tomi was determined to make landfall. 

She hoped they would require a bit of time to catch themselves, turn around, and then catch up to her. Key word being “hoped”. The very same hope that was soon dashed upon some rocks as Mecha’s tail was grabbed from behind, leading to both Tomi and Mecha being pulled back to where the robot was then she got kicked back even further. 

How rude. 

Rising back up out of the sea she had been knocked in, Tomi decided enough was enough. She gave being non-combative a chance, some would argue it required more than one chance, but the Paint-by-Numbers Protectors liked their cheap shots. Well fine. Standing Mecha up to her full height, Tomi flipped on the lights in a ploy to blind them as she willed Mecha to roar. 

They wanted a fight; they were going to get one that started with a bang. 

##### -

Getting thrown back into the water for what was quite possibly the fifth time, Jason and his fellow rangers were at their wits’ end. Did that fucking…thing have any more firepower it was hiding? It seemed to have the energy ballistics their individual zords had, with some additions like how Billy’s triceratops had a concussive wave. Only instead of a concussive wave, the thing they fought had some sort of energy beam, missiles, and that drill tail that was a pain in the behind. By the time they were ready to throw down again, to keep the beast away from their town and the crystal, they were met with darkness. It was gone. 

“What the fu-" “Where’d it go?” “Jason, I got a bad feeling about this.” “Do you think it ran?” 

“Maybe, we did do a number on it.” Jason said still mildly confused about how a fucking beast taller than the megazord, with flood lights on it, could disappear in the span of a minute or so. Really, it made no damn sense. Expecting another attack, the rangers and their megazord stood motionless out in the water for a good five minutes as they slowly processed what they just fought. 

“So um, Jason…” Kim began quietly as they started to relax, “what the hell did we just fight? I know it was the same thing that nearly knocked me out of the air but how the fuck did it hide missiles in its hands?” 

Unfortunately Jason didn’t really have a good answer. He had one; he just wasn’t sure how believable it was. They were going to have to speak to Zordon about the threats coming for the crystal. 

“Don’t forget about that energy beam, it knocked us down the third time.” 

“Aw man, that was cool as hell. It was like that thing you did to knock Rita out, dude.” 

“Hurt like hell too. Yo Jace, do you think it’ll come back?” Trini asked over Billy and Zack’s conversation regarding the beam it used. Further evidence to Jason about what they possibly fought. 

“I’m not sure. We’ll just have to be on guard. For now let’s get back to the ship, it’s nearly eleven.” Jason said as they began making their way back. They were going to have to disassemble away from the town before they got to the ship. This had been a fantastic surprise to their evenings. 

Once in their ship, Jason made his way over to Zordon’s wall as the others followed behind him. 

“You’re alive!” Alpha said with a little too much cheer and surprise. Jason was sure Kim, and Zack, both gave the little robot weird looks at his words. 

“So uh, Zordon…What other kaiju are we going to have to fight?” Jason asked voicing what was bugging him about their most recent fight. His words might’ve also drawn a little gasp from Billy and a few murmurs from the others as they realized who he was talking about. 

“Other what? Jason I don’t know this “Kaiju” you speak of, but the things coming for the Crystal are varied and numerous.” Zordon said as his face formed on the wall. Jason huffed at the answer, that didn’t really answer anything. 

“Alright, fine, they’re varied. Are any of these “varied” threats mechanical like our zords?” Kim said as Jason was taking too long to reply and none of the others were speaking up. Her comment caused Alpha to glance at Zordon before waddling over to the sole console in the room and brought up the universe chart the ship had. 

“Yes, there is a mechanical threat. They’re led by a King from a "Royal House of Gadgetry". Not much was known about them.” Zordon said after thinking for a moment. 

“They’re not an immediate threat though,” Alpha piped up with a wave of his claw, “they’re on the other side of the universe in a small, dark corner-or they were.” 

“That’s not comforting.” Zack said as he looked at the screen Alpha had up on the console 

“Don’t worry; they were ignorant of the Zeo Crystal’s existence when we crashed on this planet. They most likely still don’t know, and again, they’re on the other side of the universe.” Alpha said trying to reassure them. 

“Right… the universe…” Billy said a little stunned by the information. 

“You said the threat was like your zords. Describe it to me.” Zordon said after going over Kim’s words. 

“It was greenish black and silver." “It had guns like our zords and missiles.” “It was taller than our megazord.” “The thing had a drill-like tail.” The rangers all spoke one after the other as Zordon absorbed the description. 

“That does sound like a zord...” Zordon said agreeing with their sentiment when Trini posed a question that caught him off-guard. 

“Did Rita have a zord?” Zordon looked to Alpha, as if at a loss for words, before Trini and the rangers saw his eyes widen slightly. Almost as if a thought just came to him then. 

“She did, but when she left the rangers, it was seen less and less. Rita started to make monsters to assault us for the crystal instead of using her zord.” Zordon said as he began to think on what it would mean if Rita’s zord was up and running; he came to several conclusions but one stuck out above the others. Her coin had been found. 

“Before she broke away, she would often remark how she thought her zord had a mind of its own but we-my team and I- didn’t give it much attention.” 

“So how did it get to Earth if she had been out of the picture until last month?” Billy asked as he thought of where it could be hiding. It had come from the water, and seemed to not be hindered by it, compared to their Megazord. Maybe that was a clue to where it was. 

The silence from Zordon and Alpha was a little more than disconcerting to the rangers, though soon it was broken by Alpha clacking away at the console. 

“Well if Rita had a ship, which would have been in orbit when she was fighting Zordon and his team, it could’ve stayed up there housing her zord before falling to the planet over the course of the sixty five million years we’ve been here.” Alpha said theorizing as he waved a claw in thought. “This ship hurtling through space to impact the planet could’ve also knocked the ship out of orbit, which could also explain her zord being here.” 

“Yeah but what you told us about the zords, how they take the form of the most powerful organisms on the planet, doesn’t explain how Rita’s zord became a kaiju.” Jason said recalling when Alpha first showed them their zords and explained why they looked like prehistoric creatures. 

“Why wouldn’t that explain Rita’s zord, Jason?” Alpha said with a hint of confusion. The rangers figured they were missing something obvious that both Alpha or Zordon knew. 

“Because kaiju aren’t real Alpha. They’re imaginary monsters used in human movies,” Jason said somewhat at a loss, “and the one we just fought was very similar to a well-known and popular monster from a kaiju movie series.” 

“What? That’s impossible!” Alpha’s exclamation caused the rangers to raise their eyebrows. “Where did you find it? There’s most definitely an explanation to it looking like this ”Kaiju”.” 

Looking at each other, Jason lightly tapped Kim on the arm before nodding his head slightly. It took a minute for her to get what he was implying, but when she did she answered. 

“I was out, practicing with my zord by flying over the ocean, when it broke the surface and nearly smacked me out of the air.” Kim said with some disbelief. She was praying there weren't other kaiju out there.

“Ah, that would explain it!” Alpha said as if Kim’s answer neatly explained everything. 

“Explain what?” 

“The zord. It came from the ocean right?” Alpha asked getting a few nods. “So the ocean is where it gained its form and where this “imaginary” Kaiju most likely was when Rita’s zord and ship crashed onto the planet.” 

The sound of a body hitting the floor led the rangers to discover Jason had fainted. That was not good. Taking a few minutes to bring him around, the rangers soon turned back to Zordon as one of them posed another question. 

“There’s no way to remotely control a zord, is there? I mean we slapped Rita into space, there’s no way she could control it, right?” Zordon nodded at the question before he spoke. 

“Yes, zords aren’t easily controlled without being able to morph. To do it remotely, would require advancements in technology that weren’t available to the zords at the time they arrived on your planet.” 

“So what does its appearance mean? There’s gotta be someone controlling it.” Jason said as he scratched the back of his head in thought. The appearance of this mechanical pseudo-kaiju was going to bring trouble, he just knew it. 

“It means Rita’s coin was found, and it’s likely her ship was discovered as well.” Zordon said solemnly. 

“You five will need to be careful in the coming days until you find and talk to the being that has her coin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter done, this one was longer than I had planned. It kind of got away from me like a few of the liberties I took. Hopefully the last two parts work okay and that Billy's part was okay. Also if it isn't really clear, Tomi's bad cosplay is a result of the morphing pad being damaged and then the damage causing it to short out in the middle of her morph, hence the 87% of her being covered. Don't worry, it's just her head, part of her lower legs, and four of her fingers that are uncovered. Everything else is armored and protected, especially the neck since that spinal cover is apparently needed to operate the 2017 zords.
> 
> Thank you, all of you, for all the interest. It puts a smile on my face to know it grabbed someone's interest. More things will be revealed next chapter so see you then.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's talk of a fight near the end of the chapter.

##### Sunday 

Tomi felt remarkably “alright” for having survived a fight with the town’s protectors. Well aside from the knowledge that she had fought five people in a giant robot in her own, and that they were most likely looking for her currently. That particular bit of knowledge caused her to lie in her bed longer than usual, trying to come up with various scenarios that she’d have to deal with. None of them were particularly useful since that armor cosplay she had disappeared when she got back to the vault. This meant, if she were to run into them again, she would have to run. That’s all well and good, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t always be helpful. That thinking led her to the best course of action in her mind. 

Find out their identities and then maybe see if she can pass off her coin to them. 

All while keeping her identity a secret. 

Yeah, she was going to need to plan out quite a bit if she was going to find out their identities. Like what to do if they weren’t human, and how to somehow hand the coin to them while keeping her identity hidden. Maybe also making sure the bloody coin actually stayed with them instead of sticking with her. Tomi also felt pretty adamant about _not_ apologizing about what happened yesterday, but she doubted they would remember when it came time to confront them. Plan of action decided upon Tomi realized she would have to go back to the vault, say hi to Mecha, and maybe snoop around to see if the protectors used it at all. It would probably be prudent to take a mask along. You know, in case they were there or something. 

Thankfully she had nothing pressing to do on Sunday so her day was free. This knowledge coincided with the surprise that her Aunt had a date that night, meaning she was going to get home late giving Tomi more leeway with how late she could stay out. That didn’t really stop her Aunt from repeatedly telling her that she was only a call away, should Tomi need her. It wasn’t exactly the first time Tomi’s Aunt had gone on a date but the sentiment was comforting each time. It made her feel…valued. 

Anyway, it was shortly after noon when Tomi left her house to make her way to the vault with one of her bauta masks in hand. The mask was a precaution, obviously. If the vault was theirs and she was trespassing, she wanted to at least make it hard for them to figure out who she was. The bauta mask would do a serviceable job of hiding her identity despite its simple design. If they tore it from her face, then well…she was now wishing she had brought along a domino mask to wear underneath the bauta. 

Alas she had arrived at the beach, and she wasn’t really in the mood to go back to her house, so Tomi took her chances with just the bauta. As she ventured back into the vault, and saying hi to Mecha as she passed, Tomi set about exploring the rest of the vault to snoop like she planned and because she was curious about the area. There had to be at least some interesting things down there besides that platform. 

Walking past said platform room with its glassy rocks and down a different hallway, Tomi soon came upon a room that had her raising an eyebrow. The entire room seemed to be filled with scrap. Some was probably from the walls but that didn’t really explain the large amount of chains she found in it. Not just normal chains either. The metal was quite a bit stronger than she expected since it stood up exceptionally well to her new found strength when she tried to break a few. Tomi found their existence to be quite peculiar, though she’d save them for later. Perhaps if her plan to encounter the protectors’ went sour or something then she could make use of them. 

Leaving the scrap room behind, Tomi continued exploring the area while pausing whenever she thought she heard something. It wouldn’t really be good if they found her so she was ready to try and hide should the protectors’ show up. I mean, the mask she was wearing only did so much and this was most likely their home turf. Plus it was kind of tough to find an area that could hide a person a little over six feet tall. 

Coming upon another room, Tomi was surprised to find yet another platform in the middle of the room. Well…at least this one wasn’t damaged. The walls in the room were weird though since one had a flashing light on it. The weirdness might’ve come from how the walls seemed to have some sort of topography map projected onto them, but from where or what Tomi wasn’t sure. Hell, it being some type of map was a guess in and of itself. Creeping into the room, after making sure the coast was clear, Tomi made her way over to the section of the wall with the flashing light. 

Unfortunately, the platform was blocking her path since it was right up against the wall where the light was. She couldn’t exactly get any closer to the flashing light unless she stepped onto the platform and she was hesitant about that. She didn’t know how many platforms simulated being burned alive in this vault, but she would readily wage it was more than one. Still the light was deeply curious, and the more she looked at the projected map, the more it looked familiar. Honestly it looked a bit like a map of Angel Grove but she was guessing. 

Eventually curiosity got the best of her and she ever so slowly stepped onto the platform. Well more like toed onto it like it was bath that was too hot. Seeing that the platform wasn’t going to act strange with a foot on it, Tomi tested the waters further by putting her other foot on it. Inch by inch she eventually stepped onto the platform fully with eyes shut and…waited. Opening one eye, then the other, Tomi breathed a sigh of relief about the lack of painful sensations. Right, so one platform out of two didn’t feel like melting her skin off, maybe there was hope for this place yet. 

However, now that she was on it and closer to the wall, Tomi’s attention went back to the flashing light. A light that had seemingly increased in frequency of flashes after she had stepped onto the platform, leaning closer to it Tomi had the most curious idea pop into her head. The area around the flashing light was pretty stratified, one of the things that gave her the impression of topography, but the overall shape was…mountainous? Leaning back to get a clearer image of the entire map, she could say with confidence that-yeah it looked mountainous. 

The real shocker had yet to reveal itself because-as Tomi continued stared at the flashing light, it soon stopped flashing entirely. Now obviously this had her scratching her head in thought about what caused it to stop. What she wasn’t expecting was a flash of light to engulf her vision, and likely herself, before Tomi found herself in the same…room? Wait, the light on the wall was missing. Turning around, Tomi began to scan the room for clues when something slammed into her head. 

“Yes! The teleporter’s working; Billy’s going to be excited to hear this.” Tomi was pretty fucking sure she was alone in the vault, so what the hell was this voice talking about? 

Better yet, who was this “Billy” they were referring to? A face popped into her mind almost immediately, but she didn’t really want to jump to conclusions just yet. Tip toeing off the platform, Tomi began to look around the room for the source while she slowly made her exit. Maybe if they didn’t see or hear her, she’d be able to escape easier. Acourse if she could find the actual source, it would make sneaking out even easier. 

Tomi was halfway across the room, almost to the door, when movement caught her eye. It had been in the corner and as she stilled in some vain attempt to be invisible, she got a better look at what moved. It was some sort of red and grey…gnome? Wait not gnome, maybe robot, and it seemed to be dancing? Weird. 

Just when Tomi was going to start moving again, the robot turned around in its dance and saw her. Well—fuck. She better get prepared to deal with it, those orange lights did not look friendly. 

“Who are you? How did you get here?” She didn’t really feel like answering, and well seeing how the thing was a robot Tomi felt running wouldn’t be that useful. 

“I am who I am. Better question is: how could you forget who I am? If we were friends, I’d be hurt. Also…where is here exactly?” Tomi threw back at the robot as she surreptitiously took a step towards the exit. 

“Here is a ship, and I can’t forget a being I don’t know. Seriously, how did you get here?” The robot shot back causing Tomi to mentally reach for something. It totally ignored her ploy and she wasn’t used to that. Feeling the familiar conspicuous weight in her pocket, Tomi decided on a risky move to avoid giving her name. 

“Ship? What of sort ship? Does this ship have anything to do with this infernal coin that won’t leave me alone?” Tomi questioned as she pulled out her gold and green coin from the pocket of her jeans. The sight of the coin caused the little robot to put it's hands (claws?) on its head as if it had a headache. 

“Ay, ay, ay. The green power coin.” The robot said letting out what Tomi thought was an exacerbated sigh. If a robot could sigh that is. 

“The hell is a power coin?” Tomi asked as she took another step toward the exit. 

“It means you’re the new green ranger. Follow me please.” The little mechanical fella said as it walked out of the room, causing Tomi to be stuck with a dilemma. On one hand: she could follow this anomaly of the natural world to, what she hoped would be, more answer regarding the coin. On the other hand: this was a great opportunity to escape but she didn’t know the area, and well, the robot seemed harmless so far. 

Shrugging to herself, Tomi decided to follow the little construct to wherever it led. Maybe they would pass the exit on the way. However as she followed it, that seemed unlikely. This ship looked just like the vault she had found and that included how almost all the damn hallways were identical. So it was with some internal grumbling that she followed the robot to a weird central room. 

Several things made it weird. Namely the animated face in the wall, the six platforms that were in a circle around some sort of projection of a galaxy-she was pretty sure those were simulated skin melting platforms- and not entirely related, her coin had been glowing ever since she pulled it out. Oh yeah, the robot was talking to the animated wall too. She was pretty sure, they were talking about her. Kind of rude when she was in the room too. 

“So uh Mr.Roboto-dude, thing. Why did you bring me here?” Tomi said grabbing the wall and robot’s attention as she walked towards the platform circle. Staying on the left, close to the stairs she walked down in case she needed to book it. 

“I don’t think an animated wall, a really great animated wall at that, can explain this “power coin” thing.” Tomi was certainly not expecting the face in the wall to slide over to her nor did she expect it to speak English. 

“Show me the coin.” The face said as it looked at her. Honestly if it wasn’t said so neutrally, Tomi would’ve felt like she was being talked down to with how the face was looking at her. At least they didn’t ask her to remove her mask, cause then she would’ve just run out of the room. 

“This thing right? What does me having it, mean? Am I gonna have to join the Palette-Swap Patrol?” Tomi held up the coin and saw a look of confusion flash across the wall-face’s expression. 

“Palette-what? No, it means you’re a Power Ranger.” Stuffing the coin back into her pocket Tomi wondered if that was the “official” name of the Water Color Warriors. Hell, it was a lot better than what she was calling them. 

“I’m a Power Ranger?” 

“Yes, with that coin you’ve become a Power Ranger. Any other questions?” The face said nodding as if it was that simple. It might’ve been some sort of delayed shock setting in, but there was something about the entire situation that caused Tomi to not take the animated wall very seriously. 

“Am I a Ranger of Power, or am I a Ranger because of my Power?” 

“…You’re a Ranger of Power, a Power Ranger, like the others.” 

“The others…right. Those are the same five that saved the town, right? One is named Billy, yeah?” Tomi said half-heartedly agreeing with the sentiment as she probed for information. Kind of overtly, she realized a little too late with the way the animated face slid back over to the robot. This time they at least tried to whisper their conversation. In spite of that, she still picked up pieces of it. 

“Alpha did…for _her_ presence.” “The scans…nothing, so the…ansed.” “Only mor…purge …sence.” 

Tomi didn’t really like being ignored, especially when she was the topic of the conversation. It just really grated on her nerves incessantly when it happened, but for some reason-with these two- Tomi found herself being quite apathetic to being ignored. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Speaking of which, since they seemed to still be talking to themselves she was just going to return the coin and leave. This “Power Ranger” thing didn’t sound that exciting and well, there were five others to deal with… whatever “Power Rangers” dealt with. 

“Hey Kilroy, Templeton. I thought it over and I don’t want to be a “Power Ranger.” So if you could just take back the coin, I’ll be on my way.” Tomi said as she pulled out her coin. 

Yeah, she was going to stick with the plan that she thought of. Which involved giving the coins to the…”Power Rangers” after learning their identities. Okay, so she didn’t do the first part but getting rid of the coin was the big deal. Well that and keeping her identity hidden. She’s doing a great job with those two things. 

The face slid back over to her and she half-heartedly tried to put her coin into the wall because where else was she gonna put it? Once she was told stopped trying to place it into the wall, she found that the little robot was holding out a hand/claw to take it from her. It just had to take the coin from her with its telescopic arm which almost made Tomi roll her eyes because, of course, the robot had a telescopic arm. The amount of unusual and almost silly shit she had experienced within the past few days was catching up to her. This included the present situation. She was ready to ask the face if all the “Power Rangers” had kung-fu grip. If they did, then they really didn’t need her help. 

“You can’t just decide to not be a Power Ranger-“ 

“Pretty sure I can, and that I just did.” Tomi interrupted as she crossed her arms. It felt like the face was stalling for something, although she didn’t know what. It better not be for the other power rangers to show up. 

“Look…I’m sorry, what’s your name?” Oh, so now they were back to this. 

“...Tanis.” Tomi said with some hesitation. Now let it be known that Tomi wasn’t hesitant about giving her name or pseudonym. She wasn't, but there was a reason that caused her to hesitate. The hesitation was from the realization that she hadn’t been called Tanis in quite a while. However, her thoughts on the matter were derailed when the face started talking again. 

“Look Tanis, if you didn’t want to be a Power Ranger then you shouldn’t have picked up the coin. Your choice was made when you did, and the coin finding you worthy led to you finding it in the first place.” The face said with a certainty that had Tomi tilting her head to the side in thought. 

It sounded like she was bamboozled into being one of these rangers. She hated choices with obscured consequences; it was fucking intangible fine print. This realization did more than frustrate her but she wasn’t really in any position to do anything, so she saved that anger for later. 

“That’s also overlooking how you got into a fight with the other rangers after finding your zord and then proceeded to escalate it.” 

“My what?” 

“Your zord, the “Kaiju” you used to fight them in the other day.” 

“Oh Mecha, wait she’s a zord?” Tomi said baffled about how, apparently, there was a name for the type of machine Mecha was. 

“Yes, each ranger has their own zord. You fought against them while theirs were combined into the Megazord.” 

“Neat. Mecha must be a champ then if a zord stood up to this “Megazord”.” Tomi said feeling a little proud of what she and Mecha accomplished. Although she realized she was getting off track, and since the robot still had her coin, she was going to make her exit. 

“Anyway cool, thanks for telling me about that bullshit fine print and what exactly Mecha is. I’m still going to have to say no, the other Power Rangers are doing a bang up job. They don’t need me.” Tomi said as she began to walk away with a wave. The look shared between the robot and the face, almost had her laughing, but soon enough she was up the stairs and near the door when she turned back for one last question. 

“There’s an exit to this place, right? Eh… nevermind I’ll find it.” 

“Tanis wait--Come back, there’s more to exp…” The robot tried in vain to get Tomi to stay but she was already out the door when it spoke up. 

Turning to Zordon, Alpha decided to ask the most important thing. 

“Do you think she’s a threat?” 

“No…We both know the morphing grid is one of the best things at removing any evil or outside influence on the coins and the rangers themselves. She’s simply not interested.” Zordon said as he held Alpha’s gaze 

“What if the others run into her?” 

“They can handle themselves.” 

“I’m not so sure.” Alpha said with some worry. His eyes widened slightly upon realizing Tanis’ coin had disappeared from his hand. 

“We should tell them of her arrival; maybe they can find her and befriend her." 

##### Monday

The rest of Sunday had not been kind to Tomi. She wasn’t sure what angered her more: The bullshit fine print that the coin came with, her loss of choice in the matter, the idea that she was going to have join a team she didn’t even want to, that she was going to have to trust said team, the fact that she had to run all the way from the quarry to the beach to retrieve her car, her bauta mask having gotten a little more than wet as she left the ship, or how the fucking insufferable coin came back to her. There was a whole host of things she could be angry with, and that’s firmly leaving out the discovery about her childhood nickname. 

This mixture of anger and dormant sorrow caused Tomi to, surprisingly, not fight against the Fates when it came to being a Power Ranger. She was apparently already one, so fine. She accepted it, very begrudgingly. What she wouldn’t accept is the notion that she would freely join their team. Especially when she didn’t know how loyal they were to each other and how she wouldn't believe they're _that_ loyal until it was put to the test. So going off of what she overheard from the little robot said and a few other things, she had a very shaky theory and plan. However, she had school to deal with so she was going to have to improvise her plan during the day. 

Thankfully, getting to school was less stressful than the previous week despite how late she stayed up. All she had to do was shower, dress in a rather typical outfit (jeans, a black shirt, her new green hoodie, with her hair in a ponytail), and after some breakfast where she wished her Aunt a good day she was on her way. 

Naturally getting to her locker was where Monday’s problems began. She had noticed how people stared at her, the looks were like people were trying to remember who she was. Tomi soon saw something that that blotted out her curiosity with frustration though. It was because Colt was in front of her locker. Picking on some boy that seemed to be a punk rock fan, and the kid looked rather familiar. He was probably locker neighbors or something with her, which would explain why she felt she knew him. 

Still Colt blocking her locker just to pick on some kid had re-ignited her anger because, and this was important, it was in front of _her locker._ If it was anywhere else, she wouldn’t care but Colt was now hindering her and class was going to start soon. Also it seemed as if Colt was getting ready to break the poor boy’s finger or something. 

Well, obviously, she couldn’t have that. Stomping up to the two of them, Tomi went about slugging Colt in the arm to grab his attention. This had the side effects of saving the other kid’s finger and causing Colt to be shunted into her locker. He promptly turned to look for who punched him and saw her bored amber eyes boring into him. The hint of scorn on her neutral expression most likely hinted to him who had delivered the punch. Either way, Colt seemed to be rather put out by who he figured hit him. 

“Colt, get the fuck away from my locker.” Tomi said flatly as she waited for his ass to move. “Leave the guy alone while you’re at it.” 

"Who are you supposed to be? His girlfriend or another bodyguard of his?” Colt’s snippy little answer caused her to exhale slowly. She didn’t want to do anything extreme. Taking a small step toward them, Tomi buried her fist in Colt’s stomach causing the bully to try and fight through the sudden pain better by curling in on himself. Unfortunately for him, Tomi prevented him from doing that by putting her other hand on his shoulder so he could look into her cold eyes. 

“I’m the girl who’s having her locker blocked by some prick bully, and I am in no mood for your attitude.” Tomi said just as flatly as before, before she leaned in a little to deliver a threat. 

“Now Colt. I don’t want to ever see you around my locker or picking on this guy-“ Tomi nodded to the side where the punk rock fan was watching them-“again, for the rest of the school year. Not…nice things will happen if I find you blocking my locker again.” 

“What are you going to do bitch? Put me in the hospital like the other kid?” Okay so Colt apparently recognized her now. Well then, that made this easier. Pulling her fist back slightly, Tomi sent it into Colt’s liver as she pinned him to her locker. 

“No Colt,” Tomi began still keeping up the flat and disinterested tone, “if I find you doing those two things it won’t be nice consequences. You see, I’ll find you outside of school, while you’re out in town perhaps. I’ll drag you into an alley of some sort, and then I’ll cave your skull in. Even if it's in broad daylight. Okay?” 

The fact that Colt seemed to still completely at her words made Tomi slightly thankful that she continued to be regarded as the school psychopath. Just slightly though, it was still largely bothersome. 

“Got it?” At the smallest of nods, Tomi pulled Colt off her locker and shoved him down the hallway. Once away from her locker and the kid he was picking on, Tomi opened the locker door and hoped her threatening of a bully didn’t cause her to be late for class. It was right when she was pulling out some books that someone spoke to her. 

“Hey, um, thanks for dealing with that moron.” Leaning back so she could see who was talking, Tomi found it was the boy she saved. Bah, she didn’t need his thanks though she wouldn’t correct him. 

“No problem.” Tomi said nonchalantly as she pulled her last book out and closed her locker. 

“Would you mind if I hang around here for a bit while I wait for my friend?” The guy asked, causing her to raise an eyebrow. Why would she care? Hardly mattered, plus she had class to worry about. 

“Knock yourself out.” Tomi said still a little confused about why he thought she would care. She kind of made it clear that blocking her locker was what she was angry about, or at least she thought she did. However she didn’t care enough to stay around longer, so after a little wave, she was on her way to class. 

Tomi had quite a few things to think about over the course of school. Like her plan to figure out how loyal the rangers were to each other, and also their identities. Thankfully Tomi had a good, but shaky, theory regarding the latter. It involved what the robot had said the other day; about “Billy” being excited about some teleporter working. 

Now this was where her theory became shaky. The five Power Rangers that saved the town each had worn a specific color. Pink, yellow, black, blue, and red, simple stuff right? Right, then there was the fact that a recent group of unlikely kids all became friends in school. A group of five kids specifically, and if Tomi wasn’t mistaken, they all frequently wore one color that could be found on one of the rangers. Thus, and this was why it was shaky, the “Billy” the robot was talking about was…Billy Cranston. If Tomi’s theory held any sort of weight, then Billy was most likely the Blue Ranger because he constantly wore blue. It also would confirm that Kimmy, Trini, Zack, and Jason were the other rangers. 

Tomi was less sure about their colors. Jason, Kim, and Zack all frequently used black in their outfits. Kim was really the only one with visible pink on her outfit, while Jason’s shirt seemed to occasionally have red. She had no idea regarding Trini, though if she had to take a shot in the dark from what she’s seen the small girl wear then Tomi would guess Trini’s the yellow ranger. It was the flannels she wore occasionally. They had yellow in them. 

The only other evidence for her theory was how her coin acted strangely around four of them in school. Seriously, she had a constant worry that the coin was going to make her pants catch fire when she shared a class with one of them. So she was relatively confident in said theory. However, now she wasn’t sure what to do with this theory. Tomi was obviously going to need to confirm their identities somehow, but she wasn’t sure how. If she was lucky, maybe she could test their loyalty to each other at the same time. Yes…now that she was thinking about it, a plan formed in her mind that could do both. She was going to have to watch them all throughout the day, subtly of course. See if she couldn’t confirm it in an easier manner. 

By the time lunch rolled around, Tomi hadn’t really gained anymore evidence towards confirming her theory. Tomi did realize though that apparently most of the pink in Kim’s outfits were under her shirt, which had her raising an eyebrow. How did she miss that? She also learned that her history class, the one she shared with Jason, was going to have a sub for a while. Apparently something happened to their teacher…and yeah she stopped paying attention. All she knew was that their sub was some Sabrina lady that was new to teaching. 

Currently she was camped out at a relatively isolated lunch table in the cafeteria. One that allowed her to keep an eye out on the group as they had lunch, while she read one of her books. Tomi wasn’t particularly hungry and there were more important matters at hand. Like how comfortable Kim and Trini were around each other, and that they were practically cuddling over at their table. Honestly this evidence made Tomi pout a little. If they were that comfortable with each other, then they were probably dating and there went Tomi’s chance with Trini. _Damn_

Either way, she gave that thought little attention as she kept surreptitiously watching the group. Tomi was going to have to learn more about them before she could effectively put her plan into action. One that would do both things for her since any evidence she found was lacking. Of course, the Fates had to fuck over her little spying session as two guys sat down across from her at the table completely blocking her line of sight with who she was spying on. Fine, that was fine, she was done spying though who in the hells were these guys? 

Directing her gaze to the two of them, Tomi felt like sighing. It was that punk fan from earlier…and she guessed the other guy, was who he was waiting on this morning. Of course, they just had to sit down at her table for lunch. The punk fan’s friend, who seemed to be a little on the large side of things, looked like a bit of a casual rivet head. Looking between the two of them, she fixed the punk rock fan with her gaze as she spoke. 

“Can I help you two?” Tomi said doing a pretty good job of keeping the anger out of her voice. She wasn’t done spying, alright. She was a little miffed it got interrupted. 

They both just kind of held her gaze, and she was beginning to feel a little put on the spot when the larger of the two nudged the smaller one. Apparently the nudge was needed because the punk fan smacked his friend on the arm, causing the larger one to sigh before speaking. 

“He wanted to thank you again for telling Colt off but apparently cat got his tongue.” The casual rivet head said flatly before digging into his lunch. Shifting her eyes between the two, Tomi internally groaned before returning her gaze to the punk fan. 

“You’re welcome. Colt’s a fool most of the time. Hopefully he’ll stay away from our lockers now.” Tomi said rather casually as she tried to think of a way to end this conversation so she could try and get back to spying. If they were going to have their lunch at her table, she might just get up and leave. 

“Thank you again…oh uh-by the way, I’m Eugene,” The punk fan said after a bit of silence between the three of them before pointing at his friend, “and this is Farkas. Usually we go by S-“ 

“Eugene, was it?” Tomi interrupted as an idea struck her. These two guys might be able to help her learn more about the Power Rangers. After all, the group was the talk of the town. 

“Yeah?” 

“Do you guys know anything about the Power Rangers?” Tomi asked innocently enough, though she doubts Farkas or Eugene regarded her as suspicious. Much to her relief, the pair were rather excited to talk about the Power Rangers and the attack. Apparently they had been saved by the Rangers and they went on to mention how they helped said Rangers with the rock monsters. 

Of course, when they launched into their “epic” retelling of the Attack, Tomi noticed some differences. Like how they were tangentially saved by the Pink Ranger mowing down several lines of rock golems before going for the gold titan. This led to Tomi also wondering if the “help” they gave the Rangers was really just the two of them driving a truck into two golems as they were disintegrating. Tomi would readily admit though that their story caused her to laugh a few times. As they wound their telling of events down, Tomi nodded in good nature before returning to her book. The guys weren’t so bad after all, and well, she probably got as much as she could from spying on Billy and his friends for the day. Now it was time to work on her plan. 

It was about three minutes later when the sound of Farkas and Eugene lightly smacking each others' arms while they argued in whispers reached her ears. She wasn't sure what they were doing, but she was going to intervene if it got any louder. Eventually it stopped and one of them posed a question to her. 

“Hey Tommy. We heard something a while ago concerning you and-well, we were hoping you would be willing to explain it.” Farkas said as she looked up from her book at them. Oh. She could guess what they wanted to hear. Well, it had been a while since someone asked about that. She might humor them, just this once. 

“I could, though I’m surprised you haven’t heard all of it already. Why are you asking me?” Tomi said casually as she closed her book. Oh she would tell them, but she wanted to hear what they knew. 

“Yeah, we’ve heard several things but a story that big got us curious about the actual event.” Eugene said simply, which Tomi nodded at in agreement. 

“Alright I can respect that.” Tomi admitted as she got their complete attention. 

“I take it you both heard the one where I was crushing on the girl I “rescued” before the guy fought me, yeah? Also heard the one where I come off as a monster, right?” Seeing their nods just reaffirmed her decision to tell them the truth. 

“It’s not exciting really. I was coming from the soccer field that day,” Tomi said as her eyes lightly scanned the room, “when I saw them walking out of the main building. Well-it was more like he was walking out of the building and she was following behind him a ways. A little glumly too, now that I think about it.” 

Taking a moment to collect her thoughts, and seeing that no one else was really listening, Tomi continued on with her explanation. 

“As I got closer to the main building, I ended up overhearing them get into an argument and then the pissant socked her and then he started dragging her towards the parking lot. So obviously, I wasn’t having any of that. I went after them and got her away from him. I don’t really remember how, but next thing I remember is that I’m leading her back to the main building with the intention of finding the nurse.” 

Exhaling a breath and relaxing her grip on her book, Tomi noticed she still had their complete attention. Good, she didn’t really want to repeat herself though they looked a little miffed about what happened. Honestly she had been too during that moment, it’s why she intervened. 

“It was on the way back when her boyfriend caught up with us, and ended up punching me in the back- pretty sure he nailed one of my kidneys. Obviously that caused me to stumble and led me to falling on my face, and allowed him to kick me in the side. From what I could hear, while I recovered, he said some profanity to my teammate and talked about doing worse if she didn’t go with him.” Tomi smiled ruefully as she thought about the next part. The part that placed her into detention because of the School’s bullshit policy about fights. _She had been outside._

"Anyway, I don’t entirely remember what happened after. I was angry as hell. At him and what he was doing with my teammate, so I ran after them again. Hurled my bookbag into his back, followed that up by launching onto his back, and when he tried grabbing me I broke one of his fingers by twisting it. The entire process caused him to become unbalanced and forced him to drop to all fours with me on him,” Tomi's lips curled into a sneer as she recalled the part, “and capitalizing upon the situation…I kicked one of his elbows several times. I’m pretty sure that after one of the kicks, there was a crack and the fuckhead began to become acquainted with the ground.” 

Tomi had to fight back a chuckle that crept up her throat. She really had no idea how she got him on the ground, she just knew there was a few breaks and the injuries the medics said. 

“Now this next part is a huge damn blur. I remember breaking more of his fingers when he was on the ground before I began to just stomp on his hand and his back with my cleats. Sent a kick or five to the back of his head, along with stomping on it one time. Next thing I’m fully aware of happening, is that the school’s security officer is pulling me off of him and my teammate is talking to a few teachers, trying to explain what happened. Things happened quickly afterwards; I got thrown in attention, along with some discussion about how I might be charged with battery, my teammate came forward with her side of things and our coach backed her when there were doubts of her suffering abuse, and he was placed in the hospital. Apparently I had given him a serious concussion, and some spinal damage in addition to the breaks. That’s why he's still in the hospital, I think.” 

Tomi felt a little odd after explaining what happened though that might’ve been caused by the guys across from her. Farkas and Eugene’s reaction was a little weird though, considering they did a two person huddle and seemed to be having a whispered conversation among themselves. A minute later, they slapped their shoulders and turned back to look at her. Honestly it was a bit silly. 

“Dude, that is so much better than the rumors.” Farkas and Eugene said together causing Tomi's eyebrows to raise in surprise at their energy. 

“Though I can’t believe you got detention for that, you weren’t in school!” Eugene said getting a laugh out of Tomi. That had been part of her argument too. 

“Not to mention how you stopped that dick from hurting your teammate further.” Farkas added causing a small smile to work its way onto Tomi’s face. Them agreeing with her felt rather…nice. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but it did. 

However their mention of rumors made another idea to form in her mind, one related to her identity theory that she could maybe use to fund out more about the misfit group she was spying. Eugene and Farkas seemed rather open to talking about stories, although she might view some of it as gossiping, so maybe they’d be willing to talk about stuff she didn’t pay attention to when she was on the soccer team. Say, rumors regarding Kimmy or Jason. 

“Since we’re on the topic of stories, and you guys seem to know your stuff, I gotta ask…” Tomi felt her smile shift into a toothy grin. 

“Do you guys know anything about Hart and her fall from grace?” She hoped her grin didn’t come off as menacing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So chapter 4. Things are moving along. Tomi discovered their ship, there is no way Rita's influencing her anymore, and she has an idea about their identities. Sorry if the fight's explained a little strangely. Might tweak the dialogue and stuff at the end of the chapter, depends. Not really sure how I feel about it. Also as stated in the first chapter, I most likely took some liberties with the injuries she gave the boy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a bit of shady stuff in this chapter. Nothing graphic but we see some more of Tomi interacting with the rangers.

##### Monday: later in the day.

Tomi felt the plan she thought up was rather simple. Kidnap one of the people she suspected of being a ranger, stow them in some remote location near the town, proceed to “interrogate” them about the others while concealing her identity and then she would seemingly leave the area. Obviously, she really wouldn’t leave the area, but she would find a nice hiding spot and then time how long it took the others to reach the one she abducted. Cause…if they took a half hour to find their missing ranger, after Tomi sent a message about where to find them, then they weren’t really loyal to each other. At least in Tomi’s mind. It also had the side benefit of confirming if they were a ranger by seeing which ranger didn’t show up. 

Simple, right? Right. 

In practice there were more difficulties than she expected. She had, initially, planned on taking Kim first because her house was near some woods and the mountains behind the town. The location made for an easy area that Tomi could hide her in after she was knocked out. Tomi also had some stray thought about how iconic it would be; a dragon abducting a princess and forcing knights to rescue her. The comparison tickled her pink, though her desires to abscond with Kimmy didn’t work out. 

It was due to a few things that were making her groan just thinking about it. 

One involved Tomi having to rush home to grab one of her masks, so that she could hide her face. After biting that bullet and getting back into town in some kind of attempt to locate her quarry, Tomi ran into problem number two. Number two being: she had absolutely no idea what Kimmy’s after school schedule was like and if Tomi was going to stalk someone; she wasn’t going to take short cuts by using social media. Largely because it required her to actually join the sites, and-yeah, no she wasn’t going to do it just so she could be stalked. The irony of the situation was not lost on her when she had that realization. 

She had nearly thrown in the “stalking towel” when some providence manifested and she found Kim’s BMW parked near the town’s rebuilt Krispy Kreme. So naturally she had waited, in a nearby parking lot, to see Kim come out with the intention of tailing her. What Tomi wasn’t expecting was Trini walking out of the Krispy Kreme with Kim, and they had seemed to be holding hands? It was rather curious but just further cemented the idea in her mind that they were dating. It also meant that Tomi probably wouldn’t be able to nab Kim if Trini stuck around the princess like glue. That was rather directly confirmed when Tomi followed them through town and found Kim taking Trini back to her (Kim’s) house. Wonderfully fucking over Tomi’s plan further in the process because…of course, nothing could be easy. 

How was she supposed to kidnap Kimmy if another potential ranger’s there? She couldn’t. 

As she drove past Kim’s house, a minute or two after her would be quarry pulled in; Tomi found herself having to choke down a very weird surge of anger. It was very surprising and strange because she had come to terms with feeling some degree of fleeting anger upon the realization of Kim’s destination. This weird anger was different. It was more of a simmering rage that nearly boiled over as she got past Kim’s house. It was rather sudden too, so sudden that she nearly punched a hole in her dash from impulse. The denied impulse caused her to swerve (because she was mid-punch when she caught herself) and the subsequent correction she made as she drove helped cut through the rage long enough that she was able to stop the car on the road’s shoulder. 

That was not okay. In fact, there were several things that weren’t okay about what she just felt. 

The rage was too similar to her previous encounter with the emotion, though there was an added sense of it feeling…foreign? Plus she had been driving, and the only reason why she didn’t get into a collision had been the fact that there was no on-coming traffic. Now that she was stationary and in the process of calming herself down, she had an attempt to examine her emotions open to her; an examination that Tomi was going to use to some success, unfortunately her own emotions were never her strong suit. 

First thing she noticed was that the rage-well, more like anger, was still present. Hiding and simmering underneath her usual void of contentment and apathy where she figured her emotions resided. In fact, that was where she got the notion that the anger was foreign. She had felt rage, hell she had recently been inflamed by rage into a destructive frenzy and the rage Tomi felt then wasn’t nearly as inflammatory…to her. That was what gave the anger its feeling of incongruousness. It reminded her of the nausea she had felt Friday night, only more muffled. Like the rumble of thunder indicating a storm from far off. 

The other part of the anger that really stuck out was how it lingered. The lingering was very unusual and rather concerning, though she was now feeling mildly thankful for being forced into anger management. Tomi didn’t have an anger problem but apparently, to the school, she did. Anyway she felt it was particularly prudent to test out some of things suggested to her during anger management. She was going to start by doing some katas at the beach. Katas helped center herself, and in her mind, that would also diminish this anger she was feeling. Throwing her car in drive and pulling a U-turn, Tomi once more passed Kim’s house as she made her way to the beach. 

She was halfway to the beach when Tomi noticed she had missed something. Something rather crucial for her plan to confirm who the rangers were, and see how loyal they are to each other. She had forgotten a way to keep them bound. Kind of hilarious since she had the perfect thing to use at the vault: all those chains! She felt slightly amused by how the first part of her plan was turning out, though she wasn’t entirely sure if it was humor about fate or if it was her mind trying to process the foreign anger she was feeling in some manner. Her next attempt was going to be more successful, she just knew it. 

After calming down at the beach, and doing a few errands her Auntie asked of her, Tomi found herself making her way further into the quarry. Obviously she had parked her car somewhere secretive and safe, making the rest of her journey through the woods on foot. She was curious to see if there was a shorter path to the ravine that the power rangers used to get to their ship. 

She wasn’t really worried about them seeing her. They were school kids like her, unlike her, they probably had more involved lives that didn’t give them time to explore or do other things. Tomi was feeling weirdly thankful for her lack of a social life. She had so much free time on week nights and in general, although that might’ve also had something to do with her being a teenager. 

Anyway, it was on her way to the ravine, just past a weird glass and rock wall, that Tomi caught an unusual thing in the distance. It looked like a fire though it seemed too small to be a danger, at least from what she could see in the evening darkness. Still it was unusually high above the quarry, so much so that it roused her interest. However she was gonna be smart about it, which meant jogging back to her car and grabbing the chains she took from the vault. They were to serve as an improvised weapon, in case she came across something dangerous. 

Speaking of expected danger, she also put on the oni mask she had intended to kidnap Kim in. Cause, you know, unexpected danger and Tomi had weird hang ups about how she wanted her identity known. Tomi also found it prudent to leave behind her green hoodie while at the car; black t-shirt and jeans were enough to travel in while being covered by the encroaching darkness. 

Provisions gotten and the chains inconspicuously acting as a belt, Tomi made her way back towards the glass-rock wall before altering her path and moving towards where the fire was. Doing her best to stay hidden while making sure her mask’s gold trim or chains didn’t potentially glint from the fire light as Tomi made her approach. It was harder than she expected, and at one point her caution caused her to take off her mask completely. Easier to hide the glint of gold when the object was covered by her shirt. 

A few tense moments later, along with some internal panic over making too much noise, Tomi had reached some kind of empty camp ground. Near an abandoned train car of all things; ducking a bit into some taller foliage, Tomi slipped her oni mask back on. After watching the campground for a bit, Tomi was ready to shake her head in disappointment. Of course, no one was around the fire. She was ready to resume her trek toward the ravine when someone walked into the camp, figures, though the fact that it was Zack Taylor made her eyebrows scale her forehead. Tomi couldn’t believe her luck, another possible ranger walked right into her clutches. 

Unfortunately, he was one of the ones that made her wary. Dude knew how to be relatively discreet from what she saw at school, so she was going to have to be extra cautious since her plan resumed. Thankfully, he was admirably playing the part of her unsuspecting victim that was distracted while his back was to her. He didn’t take theater for nothing, neither did she but she was getting distracted. Creeping out of the underbrush and over to the boy, Tomi had a rather easy time of putting him in a choke-hold. That growth spurt gave her a few inches on him that she was able to put to good use. 

… 

Okay so choking someone out was a lot more difficult than Tomi thought. Like way more difficult, she had the strength and height so that wasn’t the issue. The issue was her constantly worrying that she was cutting off his blood flow instead of his air flow, and of course a weird ass surge of panic that ripped through her. It caused her to unintentional loosen her hold and he almost broke free while something seemed to flicker around Zack’s body. Thankfully she was on top of her emotions, so she was able to safely knock him out despite the unexpected hindrance and weird flickering. Tomi wasn’t really sure how she would feel if she had accidentally killed him. 

Most likely nothing and then maybe panic cause she accidentally killed someone she suspected was a power ranger. The others would most likely be after her for his death and she didn’t want that. Guilt hadn’t and wouldn’t really register in Tomi’s mind if it had happened, maybe not for years. 

Thankfully it didn’t happen, and now, Tomi wasn’t sure where to stow him after binding him with the chains turned belt. She had tested their strength herself, and they were a pain in the ass to break with just her own strength. Tomi doubted Zack would be able to break out of them on his own. Feeling weirdly pressed for time, she decided to stow Zack in that abandoned train car. 

Hey it wasn’t the best, but they were in a remote spot already. Either way best to get a move on with her plan, though she felt like kicking herself for almost forgetting to pat Zack down in an attempt to find his phone. It didn't take long for her to find it and she also found the most curious thing as well. A coin just like hers, except it had a black crystal instead of green. How damning. Alas more important matters were at hand. Putting the coin back, she went about reminding herself why she had just assaulted a power ranger.

To test their loyalty for each other. 

That in mind, Tomi realized everything was set. Her black and gold oni mask was securely covering her face, no one seemed to be particularly curious about his whereabouts from what she could see on his phone (which she opened with a helping hand from him), and they were all alone. It was time for the show to begin. 

Taking longer than she would’ve liked to wake Zack up, quite a bit of light slapping of his charming face was involved; she eventually got him to be conscious and backed away to give him some space. He acted in a way that she expected. Panic, and some struggle to get out of his confines when he noticed the chains. It went on longer than she would’ve expected though but he soon caught onto the tapping of her foot. 

When he did, she saw him raise his gaze and stare into her eyes with some fiery defiance. Goodness the look he was throwing got her feeling weird. She would puzzle over that later because now was time for the most important part of her plan. Calling upon all she remembered from their shared theater class about changing her voice, Tomi spoke in what she hoped was something other than her normal voice. 

“Who are you supposed to be?” Zack had fire in him. Good. Tomi didn’t like the fact that he ruined her introduction but she could work with it. 

“I am Bandora to you, Zack Taylor. Do you know why I had you brought to me?” Okay she apparently remembers the instructions right because her voice came out really different than she was used too and it was a touch huskier too. The silence and ongoing look of confused defiance was almost delectable but she was feeling pressed for time. Again. 

“I brought you to me, Zack, because of one simple thing. It’s an itsy bitsy thing, but it’s important.” Taking a step towards him, she thought enough theatrics had been done. 

“You…are a Power Ranger.” She expected a more typical reaction from the boy, but laughter was not one. Okay, so he was trying to deceive. Foolish since she had found his coin not ten minutes ago. 

“Nope, not a Power Ranger. Trust me I would know if I was one.” Zack said casually in spite of the serious situation he found himself in. 

“But you are. After all, Billy-” His eyes widened ever so slightly- “Was so talkative about you and the others. He was so helpful.” 

“Look lady, I don’t know any Billies.” That had earned him a slap across the face. The way she was shaking her hand as if it hurt, was entirely theatrical. 

“Don’t lie to me Zack. You’re not nearly charming enough for me to believe you.” She said dully before leaning forward slightly so he could look at the mask’s expression better. 

“Now, you’re going to tell me about the others or I’ll have to hurt you and then go after your friends once I’m done with you.” She said it trying to be cordial but the rather grim look on his face, might’ve caused her to sound more threatening than she planned. 

“Your answer?” 

A moment of silence passed between them. 

“Listen lady, I don’t know any Billies and I only know about the power rangers because they saved the town. Find someone else to beat on if you want to get off. I like a more consensual setting.” Zack’s glib reply was straight and to the point, and she nodded along as if she agreed with him. 

Up until she punched him in the face. Another punch across his face caused some blood to decorate the floor of train car. After clapping his ears, somewhat harshly, Tomi took a step back and stood over him. She had to get out of here and alert the rangers to Zack being “abducted.” She also needed to find a good advantage point, best to wrap this up. Good thing she had his phone. 

“I’m going to give you a few minutes to change your mind before I come back and snap your neck leaving your corpse as a present to your friends.” She said with some finality while Zack got over the disorientation from the ear-clap. 

Walking out of the train car and moving out of ear shot, Tomi took out Zack’s phone and brought up his contacts after getting past the lock screen. A perk from changing his password, though looking at the contact list caused her to raise an eyebrow. That was a lot of emergency numbers he had down in his phone which honestly made her a little curious but now wasn’t the time and, considering what she just did, she’d probably never find out. So killing that line of thinking, Tomi selected one of the non-emergency contacts in his phone; a _Queen of Clubs_ though the other choices were just as interesting. 

If only she had more time, and she wasn’t already dialing this “Queen” contact she could’ve puzzled over the other names. 

However, the fact that dial tone was still ringing after a few seconds had her worried. Moving her mask to the side, Tomi eventually heard the other end pick up as a grin worked its way onto her face. 

“What do you want Zack? It’s like eleven.” A girl’s voice full of sleep reached her ear, and just…fucking wow. That girl’s voice is super sexy, like goddamn. Tomi felt herself getting distracted when the person spoke again. 

“If this is for some prank, you can tell me in the morning unless…wait, is your mom okay?” Shit. That flash of arousal she felt was more distracting than Tomi expected. Shaking her head, Tomi replied as she tried to figure out the voice. It sounded oddly familiar. 

“Zack’s a little tied up at the moment. You’ll have to forgive your fellow Ranger.” Tomi said doing her best to keep her voice disguised. It wouldn’t do if the girl recognized her voice in school. The little gasp she heard caused a toothy smile to work its way onto her face. 

“He better not be hurt or you’re going to wish you never came to Earth.” The girl said sounding much more awake, and angry, than she previously had been. The threat almost drew a chuckle from Tomi’s throat. It was always nice to hear girls threatening people. 

“What are you going to do if I hurt him, little ranger? Imprison me?” Tomi almost forgot to change her voice. 

“I’ll fucking tear off your head with my hands! You leave him alone.” The voice said causing Tomi’s smile to widen. She recognized the voice now. The _Queen of Clubs_ was Kimberly Hart. Oh, this was delightful. It confirmed, in Tomi’s mind, that she was a ranger. Her plan had turned out better than Tomi had hoped. 

“I mean I might… if you rescue him in time.” Tomi was having a blast, though would using a nickname reveal too much? 

“Tell me where you are. It'll save me the trouble of hunting you down.” It probably wouldn’t be too much. She probably should stop trying to incense the girl though. 

“Alright, I’ll play fair Kimmy. Just for you pumpkin,” Tomi said as she heard something cracking at the other end of the line. 

“The quarry, there’s an old abandoned train car. That’s where you’ll find him.” Tomi said before hanging up and tossing Zack’s phone towards the train car as she put her mask back on. Moving back into the train car, she found Zack still struggling to get free from his predicament. 

“What’s your answer Zack? Will you tell me about the other rangers or will you die like a little loyal beast?” She said as she tapped her foot. Either way she was going to knock him out again, but unfortunately there was another change of plans. She had better skedaddle on out of there before they arrived since Kim would most likely be looking for her. Tomi thought it would be kind of hard to spy on them with one or more chomping at the bit to kill her should they see her. 

Her thoughts were halted as the sound of Zack cursing, most likely at her, in another language reached her ears. The sound of him spitting shortly followed after and-yep, there was blood by her shoes. Loyal to the end it seemed. That was admirable. 

“You got the wrong guy,” defiant too. 

“Sticking with it to the end, huh? Good on you,” Tomi said as she moved behind him and put him into another choke-hold. He was, hopefully, going to be unconscious when they found him. Mostly okay too. He’d have the black eye she had given him, along with a split lip possibly but nothing worse than that. 

When Zack was finally unconscious again, Tomi made a somewhat hasty exit from the quarry. The fact she took the chains she used to bind him was a bit unintentional. She had originally planned to just leave them with him but her desire for a quick escape caused her to be paranoid about possible finger prints on them. 

Either way, she was driving away from the quarry a scant few minutes after knocking him unconscious and she couldn’t be more satisfied. Her plan worked rather well though the car that sped past her on the highway caused a grin to appear. Tomi was going to have to think up another plan for the next ranger. 

She was feeling like a little one on one talk with Jason was overdue. They could talk about how great football is compared to handegg. 

##### Tuesday

First thing Tomi decided when getting to school on Tuesday, was the reaffirmation that she was going to “kidnap” Jason next. This time with more planning and stalking instead of trading extensive favors with Lady Luck. 

She was going to use the two classes she had with him to better extent. Maybe try and get a better chance to see what his schedule is like without be super fucking obvious. At least she could vaguely remember half the shit she learned about him after moving to Angel Grove. Back when they were in middle school. Like how he has a sister and Tomi really didn’t want to, in any way, kidnap Jason around his house in fear of having to deal with his family. Cause they had nothing to do with this power ranger thing. 

However Lady Luck must’ve felt her favors weren’t fully cashed from the other night since Jason himself decided to stand across from her before their History class while they waited for their sub. He looked a little dour and, almost, tired today. Well from what she could see by stealing glances of him. 

“Hey Tommy,” Apparently the silence was bothering Jason. 

“Hey Jason.” Tomi said in greeting and went right back to the silence between them. If he had something on his mind, he could ask. She wasn’t about to start a conversation that she couldn’t lead just to stalk him, that’s ridiculous. The silence continued for about a minute before Jason scuffed the floor with one of his shoes and asked a question. 

"Tommy…do you still do martial arts?” Jason said meeting her eye. 

“Yep, I even still go to the same place you used to go to as well.” Tomi said. She was gonna have to swing by the place and talk to one of the instructors. Her balance was still off, but it was getting better. Just not at a speed Tomi liked. Although the mention of Jason going in the past seemed to cause the boy to become a little flustered. Tomi found that strange, in so much a pretty boy being flushed could be strange. From what she could remember; he stopped attending at the start of eighth grade, something involving handegg if Tomi had to guess. 

“Right, yeah. Is that place still operating?” Jason asked as he scratched his neck in thought. 

“Yep. Bit surprising since it was near the epicenter of the attack.” Tomi said simply, the place had only received the most superficial of damage, and she might’ve let the silence resume if she had stayed to her usual form. Alas, she didn’t since she was talking to her next target so she threw a question at him. 

“Trying to find a new hobby?” The bitter laugh in response surprised Tomi. Apparently, handegg was a bit of a touchy subject. Tomi could understand that. Well, she could understand becoming stand-offish when it came to certain topics, especially since Jason went from mildly unsure to cold when he processed her question. 

“Yeah, something like that.” His answer was tight and flat. 

Nodding in response, Tomi let the conversation drop. She had poked a boundary unintentionally and, well, she could read enough of Jason that she just blew her chance at leading any sort of conversation. Quietly sighing to herself, Tomi began to inspect her nails as she waited for the sub to open the door. 

_When did they become claws? Bah, I’ll have to deal with them later._

Eventually class began and Tomi’s day proceeded as normal. Well as normal as it could be, with Tomi trying to stalk Jason while being curious if the other rangers slept okay. Like how Zack walked into class with a shiner prominently on display and some minor fatigue. When asked about it Tomi heard him tell some story about defending a cute guy’s honor the other night. She found that kind of doubtful. Jason wasn’t really cute. He was pretty, sure, but not cute. Billy was the cute boy, though obviously Tomi knew Zack was defending more than some guy’s honor. 

She did wonder, somewhat idly, if she was unintentionally included in the group who he was defending. After all, she was a power ranger just like them. Probably not, considering she had kidnapped one and well, yeah just that. 

After theater, Tomi had a class with Billy and he was looking similar to Jason and Zack. That is tired. Her kidnapping must have kept them up all night, and that almost made Tomi feel bad…almost. Almost doesn’t quite cut it in this case. 

Lunch had her once again spying on their group. Finding them to be less rambunctious than usual, and once again, noting how cuddly Kim and Trini seemed to be with each other. Tomi felt like she was probably going to have a hard time stealing away one of the girls if they were glued to each other’s hips. Unknown to Tomi, she may have been a little jealous of what she thought was going on with Trini and Kimmy. She might’ve eventually stumbled into that direction if a group of cheerleaders didn’t block her view by sitting down in between her table and the power rangers’. 

Grumbling to herself, Tomi turned back to her book, occasionally looking towards the rangers’ table to see if the cheerleaders had left. They never did, and it caused Tomi to meet the eye of a cheerleader. Much to her surprise, and it happened more than once. Taking another glance, Tomi was surprised to recognize the girl who kept meeting her gaze. Shoving the knowledge to the side, since it wasn’t useful, Tomi returned to her book to try and get over being baffled. She wasn’t really successful, especially with the eyes she eventually felt on her. 

The feeling bothered her enough that she ended up leaving lunch earlier to wait by her English class. 

Reaching the room, Tomi found she wasn’t the only one waiting. Kim was there, sitting near the door, though she looked worse than the three boys. It was like Kim was burnt out; so why was she at school? 

Tomi ended up asking if she was alright and Kim replied with a rather bland “I’m fine.” 

It didn’t take much to see right through that, but Tomi accepted it for what it was: an answer to get people off your back. That was fair. Kim most likely got questions from her friends, and she didn’t need more questions from classmates who were most likely insincere. 

After those few words their class soon began. Much to Tomi’s surprise, English wasn’t terrible. Apparently the book they were assigned was an introduction to the genre unit the teacher was having them do, and made some mention about Walpole’s story being a nice little window into the genre. That and the project the teacher gave her class kept Tomi’s interest for much of the remaining school time. 

Plus the second class she shared with Jason was basically a repeat of her first. It was only after that class that something caught her ear. Specifically a conversation she overheard on the way to her last class. A conversation involving a mine, checking on a friend, and most shocking of all, the name Tanis which caused Tomi to do a U-turn in the middle of the hallway and act as if she was going to her locker. You know, to try and find the source of the conversation so she could eavesdrop. It took Tomi almost two more U-turns before she found the cause of her interest. It was Jason, talking to Billy…at Billy’s locker. Fuck. Hell, there was no easy way for Tomi to eavesdrop and if she stood in the middle of the hall any longer they would probably become aware of her, if they weren’t already. 

Thankfully a convenient cover manifested in the form of the cheerleader that kept meeting her eye during lunch. Tomi had no idea that the girl had a locker near Cranston’s but said girl wasn’t a Trojan horse Tomi could hide in. The cheerleader was just the next best thing to hide her presence and that fact didn’t stop her from horribly improvising a plan to eavesdrop. One that involved making her way to the cheerleader to start a conversation. The important thing she had to do was eavesdrop; she didn’t really care if she made a fool of herself as she talked to the cheerleader. 

“Kat, do you have a minute?” Tomi’s plan involved one thing, and that was talking to Katherine. Katherine just happened to be a cheerleader, well; a girl that Tomi knew in a similar manner to Kim though she’s still popular and Tomi had more classes with her. This would also, most likely, be the longest conversation they’ve ever had unless Kat blew her off. 

Either way, she had a conversation to listen in on. 

_“We should meet…ship-“_

“One sec.” 

_“- ably stick…ose…chother.”_

It sounded like they were going to be sticking together for the next couple of days. Good on them. It wouldn’t dissuade Tomi from trying to get confirmations but good on the measures they’re taking. Snapping to attention at the sound of a locker closing, Tomi met her classmate’s eye. 

“Oh Tomi, hi.” Kat’s glance off to the side was a bit odd, up until she remembered the last time they actually crossed paths. 

_“…onna…meplac…tomorrow.”_

“Hey…Kat…” 

_“…at’s best? …e attac…out her....”_

From the sounds of it, it appeared as if Jason was going to go out on his own tomorrow. What a perfect opportunity. Movement in front of Tomi ripped her attention back to the conversation she was currently in, where she was currently feeling slightly curious about why Kat would play with her hair. Nothing seemed to be wrong with it and Kat didn’t have excessive energy that Tomi knew of. Kim was a pretty apt example of excessive energy with the little snaps she would do during a lesson that dragged on and on some days. 

“…Was there something on your mind, Tomi?” Kat said as she continued to hold Tomi’s golden gaze. 

Wait fuck, Tomi needed to ask Kat something to keep up the cover. Something easy, something simple, something clean, and something she didn’t need to think about so she could focus on eavesdropping. 

“Are you free this weekend?” Tomi’s question caused her to become reacquainted with a rather curious feeling. One that made her anxious and she didn’t really know why. 

She didn’t much like it either. 

_“…Well…u’re sure Jas….”_

“I might be. Why?” 

_“It’ll…ick Bil…goin…e gym…or…rtial art….”_

Jackpot. Jason was going to be alone, in a place Tomi might know better than him. Information gleaned she turned to the new situation at hand. The one involving Kat and Tomi’s odd struggle with winging a conversation she started. All while keeping a smile or grin off her face. It would look out of place, was Tomi’s reasoning. 

“Because I…am….”Shit, nothing was coming to mind. She needed something plausible and something Kat would likely turn down. Wait that was it! 

“I want to know if you would be up for a date.” _**NO!**_ How could her mouth betray her like this!? Why didn’t Tomi just ask about an assignment? They have, like, seven classes together. It would’ve been so easy. The question would’ve come out less stilted as well. Fack, at least Kat would most likely turn Tomi down. Like Tomi was a hundred percent sure that her proposal would be- 

“Like a _date_ date?” Kat said while glancing down before holding Tomi’s gaze again 

“Yeah?” Tomi wasn’t entirely sure why that was a question. 

“Hmm, alright sure.” 

Hell. It was now, officially, the weirdest school day of Tomi’s life. 

“Well then…would you like to walk to class?” Fuck. Tomi somehow dug herself a grave. The least she could do now is willingly lie in it. Much easier to go along with it by walking to class with Kat, plus she and Kat could discuss what their date was going to be. 

Either way, Kat would surely see what a boring person Tomi is come date night and break things off before next week. Maybe she would realize it during the week and end it if Tomi was lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da, Tomi's devious plan is put into action with some unusual side effects. Although I'm kind of on the fence about Kat.
> 
> One other thing. The mask, oni mask, she used for the kidnapping is styled after a Noh oni mask that has a black/gold color scheme.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomi continues to prove she's not so nice.

##### Wednesday Evening 

##### 

Tomi wasn’t real sure why she was feeling hung up about her date. Maybe it was the way she asked Kat out. Something about it being just a matter of Tomi asking and Kat responding positively bothered her. Perhaps she expected it to be more work as a way to give Tomi an out while she was eavesdropping.

Shaking the thought from her head Tomi resumed her vigil. She was waiting for Jason to get done with his gym visit so she could pull him aside and ask him a few things. Tomi was much more prepared this time compared to when she caught Zack. She had her raven mask already on, the chains are back as her belt, and she had even arrived earlier than him to scout the surrounding area for an abandoned building. Gotta store him somewhere after all, and by the time his beater of a truck rolled into the gym’s parking lot darkness was encroaching. 

The waiting time proved a bit fortuitous since she reaffirmed her desire to kidnap Jason. Oh no, it had nothing to do with guilt or anything like that. Tomi had been, and was still mildly, worried she’d damage her raven mask. It had been a gift from her Auntie, much like the other masks in Tomi’s room, and she was particularly fond of it along with the Thunderbird mask she was given. The worry had spawned from the idea that if Jason somehow got free from her chokehold he would, intentionally or not, send several punches to her face, damaging the mask in the process 

It was almost enough to cause her to remove her mask entirely and take her chances wearing her trade mark hoodie. Just with the hood up for a change, when she decided against it. Zack’s kidnapping worked out fine for her mask, she was probably being too much of a worrywart. 

Thankfully it wasn’t long before she saw Jason leave the gym and make his way towards his wreck of a truck…across a poorly lit parking lot. Man, they really needed to get around to restoring this part of town. It didn’t take Tomi long to catch up to him while concealing her presence though something felt off. 

Unfortunately, her kicking of a pebble kicked her caution into overdrive and, well; she wasn’t feeling super confident in her stealth anymore despite Jason apparently not being bothered by the sound. So creeping faster, she quickly put the pretty boy into a choke-hold in between two street lights. 

Much like Zack’s kidnapping everything was going according to plan despite the weird ass wave of panic Tomi felt rip through her. Her fortunes didn’t last much longer as Jason seemed to have experience in escaping holds…especially with the way he was elbowing her ribs. 

Being repeatedly elbowed in the ribs isn’t fun. Tomi would’ve endured his strikes, and she might’ve been successful, if she didn’t hear a crack and felt like Jason knocked the wind out of her. Not particularly fond of struggling to breathe while being beat, Tomi released Jason by shoving him away. She needed some space to catch her breath, you see. 

By no means was she suddenly giving up on kidnapping him, which would be silly especially with all the effort she put into it. Fortunately by the time Tomi caught her breath she found Jason squaring up across from her as he caught the last of his breath. 

Apparently this ranger wanted revenge. Possibly. 

Pacing over toward him, Tomi nearly stumbled into a punch as another odd wave of foreign emotion slammed into her. If she wasn’t in the middle of a fight she would be more concerned by the timing of these foreign emotions instead of just repeatedly pushing them to the side. Thankfully Tomi’s stumble allowed her to slap away Jason’s punch as she struck true with a punch of her own. One to the center of Jason’s chest that caught him by surprise, either from the speed or strength she didn’t know. 

What Tomi did know, was that it allowed her to get a follow up attack to his shin in via a kick. That didn’t come without a cost, since Jason finally landed a punch on her torso. Using the motion from the punch, Tomi took the opportunity to put space between Jason and herself once more as she weighed her options. 

Surprisingly, Tomi’s normal style of fighting wasn’t going to help her here. She was going to have to either go on the offensive or focus on counters and she couldn’t rightly remember how Jason fought when they were both doing martial arts together so full offense was her winning option. An option she was going to have to do immediately with the way Jason was closing the gap. 

He threw a few punches that Tomi parried while sneaking in a counterattack or two, before one of her parries threw off his balance allowing her to press the attack. Unfortunately it wasn’t much of an opening, she got a solid punch to his ribs before he recovered and deflected her follow up while tagging her torso with a punch of his own. 

All in all, Tomi was feeling _alive!_

Sadly, the hits Jason landed seemed to be doing their work since Tomi found herself becoming tired. She could only hope her attacks were having a similar effect, though she was going to have to end this soon. Either by knocking him out like she originally planned or she could flee the location, although she always make use of the chains acting as her belt. 

However, all three options weren’t favorable. The chains could be taken and turned against her, the KO involves a chokehold unless she got a lucky punch in, and well she would be leaving her car behind if she temporarily fled. Before she could come to a properly made decision, Jason attacked again and she was put on the defensive. It was while she defending that a fourth option opened up to her in the form Jason trying to do a high kick. 

One aimed at Tomi’s face and one that she caught with a hand. Capitalizing on his mistake, Tomi held his leg in place while she viciously lashed out at Jason. Where you may ask? Why his other leg, specifically his knee. 

Tomi struck true and with the scream Jason let out, ignoring the way he collapsed onto the ground as well, she had a good idea that she just fractured his knee cap. 

Not giving that much attention to the injury, she quickly put him into another chokehold. This time her attempt was successful and she was soon slinging him over her shoulder. His scream most likely alerted some people and she needed to hide him and maybe…apologize about breaking his knee before she began interrogating him. 

##### -

Tomi was ever so grateful for the damage surrounding her gym: so many strip mall shops that were damaged in the attack, so many windows broken, and so many places empty ripe for use. It doesn’t take much to realize Tomi had a prime location to stow Jason after their fight, and…well, she hardly had better options. After finding a nice out of the way shop that was easy to sneak into, Tomi went about binding Jason with the chains she had on hand. 

Properly secured and still knocked out, Tomi went through the motions of finding his phone. Best to get it done immediately, though big surprise, she discovered a weird coin on his person. Much like her green one and Zack’s black one, though this one was red. 

_Solid confirmation you got there, Jason._ Tomi thought to herself as she continued searching for his phone. It took her not a few seconds more after putting the coin back that she found his phone, and just like before; she got a helping hand in opening it. Once altered so that she could unlock it, Tomi got herself ready to wake Jason. 

She needed a new voice, not something as husky or crazed as the voice she used for Zack. Perhaps she could use something higher in pitch like a valley girl voice though Tomi wasn’t sure if she could stand it for long. Nodding at the solution, Tomi took a step back and began to prepare the scene that would greet Jason. 

It wasn’t particularly thrilling or scary, Tomi had stowed him in a damaged and vacated glasses shop. The display racks were empty, if not marred by the damage of the attack. Dim light filtered in through the front windows, one broken and how she got into the building, caused by a flickering billboard from across the way and a parking lot lamp. It wasn’t enough to fully reveal Tomi’s attire or her person, but it would be enough for Jason’s eyes to adjust and see her mask: an ideal scene in Tomi’s mind. 

Acourse, like his fellow ranger, Jason didn’t rouse easily and it took a firm slap from Tomi before he had a reunion with consciousness. 

“Wah,” Jason groaned like any intelligent being reunited with the waking world and soon realized his attacker was across from him, squatting to look him in the eye. 

“Hey, listen, I’m like really, _really_ , really sorry about breaking your knee there bud.” Tomi spoke without preamble once she noticed he was awake. She was actually sorry about breaking his knee, though her little apology fell on deaf ears. It took all of five seconds before Jason began to test his bondage and ignore her completely. 

Tomi couldn’t really fault Jason for that but you know, there’s pressing matters at hand. 

“Hey so,” her next attempt didn’t even get completed before a weird flash of nerves shot through her and, of course, Jason is still struggling against his binds. Rolling her eyes, Tomi began to rock on her heels hoping it wouldn’t take long for Jason to realize now wasn’t the time for escape. She had to do something with this nervous feeling as she gave him a second. 

A minute later and Tomi was pleasantly disappointed that Jason was still trying in vain. A minute was all she had to spare, and with the weird way Tomi was still feeling, that was being rather generous on her part. Reaching out and snapping her fingers a few times, Tomi finally got a hold of Jason’s attention. 

“Finally! Do you have any idea how long I was waiting, Jason?” Tomi asked with a pinch of insincerity in her valley girl voice. The frigid look he shot her made an eyebrow rise behind her mask. She had hoped Jason would be talkative like Zack but that seemed to not be the case. His broken kneecap might have something to do with it. 

“Look, Jason, I’m sorry about your knee but we need to talk,” Tomi began as she held his gaze, “about you being the Red Ranger as well as the other rangers.” 

Tomi was going out on a limb by admitting as much to him and…oh wait, the sneer he was now giving her kind of confirmed he knew the gravity of the situation. What a brave kid. That or his knee was acting up and he’s fighting through the pain. Tomi was going to stick with the former. 

“What do you want?” Jason bit out as he shifted again. He wasn’t going to get out, she made sure of it. 

His answer on the other hand earned him a deadpan stare. It might not be super obvious to him, what with the raven mask Tomi was wearing, but the stare was immediately followed with an eye roll. 

“What did I just say Jason? Nevermind! Just tell me who’s the fifth ranger? I know all about the little Blue Ranger boy, the cocky Black Ranger and naturally the Pink Ranger but Yellow has escaped my efforts. I want you to tell me who she is before I become more impatient!” Tomi growled. She had a feeling Jason wasn’t going to be at all fun like Zack had been even if he had bought her lie about the Pink Ranger. She didn’t quite confirm that Kimmy was the Pink Ranger, she just had a very strong hunch she was that one. 

“Alright the other ranger is…” Jason started a beat after Tomi had finished her little spiel. His words caused a great deal of disbelief. She couldn’t believe he would just give her up. 

“Yes…?” 

“The other ranger is…your mother.” Jason broke into a laugh as Tomi’s surprised turn into a fleeting bit of anger.

 _Bastard._

Nodding to herself, and making sure she was still balanced, Tomi sent a punch into Jason’s mouth. Okay…so he was going to be like Zack after all. Good, it showed he was loyal to his fellow ranger. It also showed he could be a smart ass. 

Go figure. 

“Alright. Let’s go over that again and answer honestly this time, please. I would hate to rough up your pretty face even more.” Tomi said still in her valley girl voice as she inspected her nails. Any obvious damage to her hands could probably trace back to her if she wasn’t careful. 

“Who is the other ranger Jason!? Is it one of your pathetic human friends?!” Tomi wasn’t entirely sure if she could pull off a menacing air but she didn’t really need such a thing. Not when she can just quickly jab his injury causing pain to shoot through his leg. Pain that caused Jason to grimace before it subsided. 

“Fine, you made your point.” Jason said as he spit out some blood onto the floor. Nice, she did more damage than she thought with that punch. 

“They live on Drury Lane.” _Oh Lord_

“Drury Lane, huh?” 

“Yeah Drury Lane,” nodding at the confirmation, Tomi sighed to herself. Jason’s definitely as loyal as Zack. What good people they are. 

Striking Jason across the face for his little non-answer, Tomi felt another weird flash of nerves rip through her. She didn’t have time for that and with the way things were panning out, she was feeling even more pressed for time than she liked. It was like kidnapping Zack only weirder. 

“Don’t take me for a fool, Jason! The Muffin Man isn’t the other ranger. I know Yellow’s a girl; the fucking chest armor isn’t flattering!” Tomi had to resist an urge to shout the last bit. Did he really think that usage of ‘they’ was going to fool her? It was a hard urge to resist, so Tomi made the best of it. She got up and kicked him in the chest. Now yes, kicking the chains binding Jason and Jason himself probably wasn’t a good idea, but she knows it takes more to break them besides, Tomi thought she heard something from outside. 

“You know what? I’ve had enough.” She was going to have to wrap this up. 

“Same here.” _Smug little bastard._

“Shut up! I’ll give you a chance to make peace with your life as I tell my goons the news that you’re a dead end…and then I’ll pull your head from your body.” Tomi had been pacing as she laid out what was going to happen as she worked out what she should do after she alerts the other rangers. 

“Unless you come to your senses and tell me who the other ranger is.” Ultimatum given, Tomi walked out of the room and pulled out Jason’s phone. 

Once out of the abandoned store and still within earshot of Jason, there was only one exit after all; Tomi looked through his phone in earnest. Apparently he wasn’t fond of giving nicknames like Zack was since all his contact list was just names and numbers. Not even pictures, which was smart. However that worked in Tomi’s favor since she could easily find a good person to call, one that she wasn’t sure about but could go a long way in achieving her goals. 

Scrolling past Billy’s name then Kimmy’s, Tomi found the name she was looking for: Trini Diaz. Time to see if she was, indeed, the fifth Ranger-well get a better hunch than just guessing based on clothing colors and process of elimination. Hell, Jason even having her number in his phone was a good sign. After a bit of dial-tone Trini picked up and it was show time. 

“Yo bossman, you okay? You’ve been a bit quiet and Zack’s getting worried.” That was not the words she was expecting to hear, it also gave Tomi a surge of confidence that her plan is nearly complete. This confidence caused Tomi to reply with a cackle instead of something more suitable. 

“Sorry, Cupcake. Your leader’s a little busy trying to stay alive. I can take a message if you want,” Tomi said setting the stage as she kept up her fake voice. After all, time was (apparently) of the essence, and Trini needed to understand the gravity of the situation. 

“Where is he!?” Trini's snarl was adorable though, apparently, she wasn’t a fan of theatrics. 

“Now, now, Tiger, that isn’t anyway to address the merciful Candelilla; especially if you want this story to have a happy end. I mean if you don’t want a happy end I could always visit that pink princess next if that’ll change your tune.” Tomi left the threat hanging as she heard Trini suck in a breath. She hoped it was in surprise. 

“Where is he?” Trini asked once more. This time through gritted teeth, Tomi imagined. 

“Aww boo! You’re no fun and I’ve become bored. You’ll find your fearless leader in one of the abandoned and damaged stores near some place called Ernie’s in your little town. Maybe if you’re fast he’ll die in your arms.” Tomi ended the call and tossed Jason’s phone onto the store’s floor as she made her way back to Jason. Big surprise, he was struggling against her chains again from the sounds of it. Walking back into the room, Tomi kicked Jason in the side to get his attention. He needed to focus on the imminent danger at hand, not his bonds. 

“Last chance Jason. Who’s the fifth ranger?” 

“Go fuck yourself.” Jason said evenly as he held her gaze. 

“Hmm, can and did. I’m a great lover, but wrong answer. If your fellow rangers have any luck they should be able to find your corpse before it starts to rot.” Tomi spoke about Jason’s “execution” as if it were the weather while she put him into another chokehold. 

##### -

Once pretty boy Jason was unconscious, again, Tomi beat a pretty hasty retreat. Naturally it was after she recovered her chains. Abducting Jason and having that little chat have given her quite a few answers. It also gave her quite the belief that Trini was the fifth ranger. Now all she had to figure out the remaining colors. 

Two of the rangers were pretty much confirmed, what with the black and red coins she found on her victims. Coins just like her green one. Tomi felt pretty confident that Billy was the blue ranger, largely from how similar Red, Blue, and Black looked in any footage of the attack, though it naturally left pink and yellow up in the air between the girls. Obviously, Tomi was going to have to have a little one on one time with one to figure out a plan to achieve that. 

A plan she would think about later. It was getting late and as she drove away from the scene of her crime, Tomi realized she had some homework that was due. Unfortunately that thought was shunted from her mind when she nearly hit a goddamned cyclist as she was driving away. A cyclist that was moving at quite the speed since they were more like a blur as they cut across the road. 

Tomi was immensely thankful she didn’t hit the idiot or she was going to have to think up an excuse to get her care fixed. A very good excuse if the cyclist hadn’t survived. Tomi doubted her insurance would be lenient about vehicular manslaughter. Either way, the cyclist wasn’t hit so she could she could stop worrying about it…unless that was one of the rangers. 

Spirits in the heavens and the hells, Tomi felt some paranoia begin to creep up as she made her way back home at the idea of nearly running into an angered ranger. That scenario kept her company as she drove the rest of the way home and it was only a block from her house when a different thought finally wormed it’s way to the front. 

What if…Tomi went out with Kat tomorrow; to kind of finalize things for their actual date on the weekend? Definitely another way to give Kat an out should it be needed… Okay, it was really more for Tomi. She’s still feeling a little odd about how Kat accepted it and Tomi guessed she wanted to be one hundred percent sure. If, for some reason, Kat still wants that date then Tomi would certainly oblige and maybe…maybe wheedle some information regarding Kimmy from her. They were both cheerleaders and despite Kim’s dismissal from the squad, Kat might remember something about Tomi’s next victim. 

#####  Thursday 

Big surprise: the hypothetical rangers Tomi’s keeping an eye on looked exhausted when she saw them Thursday, almost as if someone was running them ragged, although Jason appeared to be in the worst shape of them all. Dude was wearing his knee brace again and still Tomi felt somewhat terrible about breaking his knee. Tomi didn't really escape unscathed either, with how tender her ribs were, but that did little to smother her smidge of guilt. 

The guilt will pass, though if she ends up joining them she might want to try and alleviate some pain from him. Divines above, her slight guilt would increase incrementally if Jason turned out to be the actual leader of the group. Unsurprisingly Jason wasn’t in much of a mood for small talk before their history class. Tomi was fine with that; she couldn’t wipe a stupid grin off her face whenever she looked at him so it was probably better if they didn’t. Hell she wasn’t even sure why she was grinning. If anything she’s sympathetic towards his condition considering she still remembered how it felt when she dislocated her shoulder, that…that had not been a fun couple of days. 

Her father hadn’t been particularly thoughtful during the whole ordeal either. _Bah,_ best not to think about that and maybe not stare too much at Jason throughout the day. 

Besides, Kat was likely going to be here soon and Tomi needed to not look as goofy as she thought she looked if was going to ask Kat on an informal date. Wait-the weekend date wasn’t going to really be formal anyway. Shaking her head, Tomi realized she was overthinking things. The only reason to possibly talk to Kat again was for school or because Kat started a conversation. Luckily their sub arrived early and Tomi took a seat on the other side of the room away from Jason. She wasn’t as lucky when Kat walked in and gave Tomi quite the pretty smile which distracted her until the class began opening their books. 

##### -

Surprisingly, Tomi had to look up some stuff during lunch which was why she was currently in the school’s library. It was while she was perusing the library’s shelves that fate intervened, specifically in the form of the rangers doing some work of their own. As a group. 

Now Tomi found herself at an impasse; she could ignore them and get back to work or...! She could try to listen in. After all, she still had to have a little girl time with one of them. It might also be easier to go unnoticed with how tired they were and how they focused on making Jason be comfortable, likely a result of his injury that was obviously still healing. Tomi was honestly surprised Jason was even in school after giving it more thought. She figured a broken knee took quite a while to heal or even walk on unless the would-be rangers had some kind of advanced medical center or something on that weird ship of theirs. 

Walking back to her table, and shaking those thoughts from her head, Tomi realized the decision was made for her with how close the would-be rangers’ table was to hers. Kim and the others were not only in earshot of her table, they were basically ten feet away from her. Hell, if she looks over them Tomi could meet Trini’s eye. 

_This is going to be terrible_

Ten minutes later and Tomi was making some decent headway on her schoolwork. Nothing the rangers have said was interesting or useful. Not a single damn thing. Mostly it was about Jason, his injury, the little attack she caused, and how Jason is going to have to take it easy for a week or two to recover. That little bit of information caused Tomi to truly hope nothing would threaten the town while he’s recovering. 

Well…push comes to shove; Tomi would likely help them out if it came down to it. What? She liked her town not destroyed or vandalized by aliens or whatever. Maybe if fate was really against her, she would find herself piloting Mecha again. Divines, she was going to have to get used to that and how Mecha fought. The zord was far too boxy in Tomi’s mind and didn’t allow for much mobility, especially compared to the other zords she’s seen. They’re so tiny compared to Mecha, plus the rangers would be so confused seeing her help them. It would almost be worth it. 

After five more minutes of schoolwork and faintly paying attention to them, something gently caught her attention. Something from the rangers. 

“I’ll be home alone Friday afternoon, but it’ll just be for an hour,” Kim’s hushed voice flowed to Tomi’s ear rather easily. So apparently…Tomi was going to have an opportunity to get at one of the remaining rangers. How delightful. 

“Is that a good idea Kim?” 

“Yeah, Jason was alone for all of…like fifteen minutes when they struck.” 

“What’ll you do if they attack you?”

“Fellas,” Kim’s voice sounded confident though not as reassuring as Tomi thought it would. “I’ll lead them outside so they won’t mess up the place and bolt. Besides, it’ll be kinda hard for them to break in without making any noise.” 

Tomi felt like trying to prove her wrong, and the little sudden inhale she heard was curious, but Kim had a point. Tomi would hardly be able to quietly get a hold of Kim without some noise. It just worked in Tomi’s favor that Kim lived on the outskirts of town, and the closest neighbor was like an eighth of a mile away. Besides she could always blame the floor creaking and what not if her chances were ruined. 

Well, that information was very interesting and enough to allow Tomi to plot. After some school work however, which she turned back to as her mind began to think up the things she was going to need to do to get ready. The biggest one involved scouting out a place near Kim’s house. One that she could stow and interrogate Kimmy when she fell into Tomi’s clutches. 

It would be fun all around. 

##### Friday Afternoon 

Tomi wasn’t having the time of her life as she waited for Kim to move away from the back window of her house. She would readily admit that waiting was the worst part. Well waiting while having a Hannya mask on her person that makes her easily stand out in the woods. However, it was proving useful since, from what Tomi could spy, it looked as if Kimmy was about to go on a jog…? Weird, though it’s likely working in Tomi’s favor. She wasn’t really going to question Kim’s desire to jog since it was like the girl was walking to the dragon’s cave on her own. It was great. 

That didn’t mean Tomi couldn’t be a little wary. Something about the timing felt off, like…why didn’t Kim go on the jog as soon as she got home from school? That, in itself, was another flag. Everything Tomi learned through observing the rangers caused her to realize that Kim and Trini rarely leave each other’s side…so where was Trini while Kim was alone? Tomi figured it would’ve been a prime time for romance or something between them, what with the dates Tomi saw them doing. Okay, it was like…two and they were café dates but still! 

_Fuck._

Ducking back behind the tree she was peeking around, Tomi did her best to hide from sight and sound as she heard Kimmy leaving her house. Kim’s jog had been started and from the sound of it, it was a leisurely jog, a leisurely jog through the woods which soon had Tomi slinking after Kim. Honestly, if Jason wasn’t the red ranger, Tomi would be inclined to believe Kim was little red rangerhood. After all, she was going through the woods with a big bad wolf following her. It would just be a matter of time before Kim realized what big teeth Tomi had. Well…she would’ve if Tomi didn’t accidentally step on a fallen branch, snapping it, and causing Kim to stop where she was. 

Cursing at herself, Tomi put on her mask and broke into a sprint. She needed to quickly knock Kim out now that she lost the element of surprise, hopefully with as little noise as possible. 

##### -

The start of their confrontation had been going rather well despite Kim getting over the surprise and meeting Tomi head on. She was able to get a solid punch or two to Kim’s torso at the cost of getting hit by Kim three times. Once in the torso, once on her inner thigh and a rather solid punch to Tomi’s face. A punch that the Hannya mask absorbed but it still hurt before Kim shoved her away. Kimmy had a real fluid style from what Tomi saw and one that worked tremendously in Kim’s favor. 

Fortunately, Tomi had some experience dealing with graceful fighters and, well, with the changes to her height she could try a counter she seldom used before: grappling. All Tomi had to do was grab Kim in some manner and slam her into a tree. Repeatedly. 

Tomi got her opening in the form of Kim underestimating her reaction times when Tomi dodged a punch aimed at her torso that left Kim overextended. Grabbing Kimmy’s arm and shirt collar, Tomi swept Kim off her feet before she was launched at a nearby tree. Naturally Tomi followed that up by getting in Kim’s guard, which was a bit surprising, but Tomi was getting caught up in the fight. The fact that she got into said guard so easily should’ve said trap to Tomi but it hardly mattered when Kim landed a series of strikes to Tomi’s thighs. Those strikes were followed up with a punch to Tomi’s left knee, which caused her to realize that whatever advantage she might’ve had disappeared when her knees buckled. 

A second later, Tomi found herself on her knees looking up at Kim. 

What caught Tomi by surprise wasn’t, in fact, the reversal of fortune. No, she could’ve recovered her advantage with several punches of her own and Kim was still close to a tree. No, the surprise came in the form of Trini tackling her to the ground. 

_Damn blind spots_ Tomi’s thought was knocked from her head as Trini capitalized on her tackle by straddling Tomi’s torso and sent punch after punch to Tomi’s face; hardly caring about the Hannya mask possibly softening the blows. 

Honestly if Tomi wasn’t still disorientated, and in the middle of a fight, she would be surprised by how well her mask was holding up. Acourse it wasn’t long before the sound of her mask cracking cut through Tomi’s disorientation. Partially on the rebound, Tomi blocked Trini’s next punch with one of her free arms while she punched blindly at Trini. She needed to get Trini off her and make a last attempt at getting Kim 

If the attempt failed then she needed to run from them. Possibly hide too. Making solid contact with Trini’s side, and likely hurting the girl’s ribs, Tomi followed it up with another strike before swiping at Trini’s face with her other hand. 

Big surprise for Tomi when it actually connected with Trini’s face, coupled with the two hits on her torso, Tomi successfully unbalanced Trini. An unbalanced Trini was a girl that let Tomi flip them over so she could top her opponent, though it didn’t last long. After a parting punch to Trini’s throat, Tomi got up and began to look for Kim. 

The time for her last attempt began now, and Kim was likely close. She wouldn’t just leave Trini alone. 

“Hey Freak!” Kim’s voice sounded from behind Tomi and as she turned to face the other ranger, she was struck across the jaw. 

The strike caused darkness to welcome Tomi into its arms.

_Just my luck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So surprise, Tomi's luck ran out. You think the Rangers will be understanding or will they think she's another Rita? Also big apologies about disappearing for like six months. Hopefully it won't take as long to get the next chapter out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big chapter as things come to light

##### Still Friday.

“No, we can’t remove her mask yet,” a voice said as Tomi’s consciousness stirred. 

“Why!? She’s been terrorizing us all week.” _Another voice? Weird_

“Jason and Zack will want to be here for this,” try as Tomi might, listening to the voices wasn’t enough to stop the darkness from reclaiming her consciousness. 

##### …

The next thing to rouse Tomi was the sounds of arguing. Well that and a pretty loud voice echoing in…wherever she was. She couldn’t rightly tell. It was a dark room with a blue back-light; it honestly reminded her of that vault she found, the one with Mecha. Tomi also discovered that she was bound in some manner, likely in a similar manner to how she chained up the rangers, and leaning against a wall. 

Oh right! Tomi also had a splitting headache and from what her eyes told her, her hannya mask was damaged. The top left corner had somehow broken off since she wasn’t looking out of an eye hole. 

_Wonderful, just wonderful._

Now one of her eyes was visible, and she could easily admit that her eyes were something that stood out on her. Tomi couldn’t remember how many compliments she got that likened her amber eyes to gold, though a lot of the time those compliments were creepy. However, worrying about her face being visible is kind of a moot point unless she escapes. 

Exhaling a breath, Tomi decided to not wait for the power rangers to come back. If they were the ones keeping her captive in this place, Tomi could probably find an exit. After all, this wasn’t the first time she’s been here. Here being their ship if they are the one holding her captive. If she has any luck Tomi might find the teleporter room and safely flee to the vault. 

Shifting position and working through the needles of a sleep dead leg, Tomi soon found herself kneeling on the floor. You know, instead of leaning against a wall and hurting her leg even further. Unfortunately, she’s still bound though that hardly impedes her escape. A few seconds later, Tomi had gotten to her feet and began walking around the room looking for an exit. There obviously is one if she could hear the arguing still going on. 

It didn’t take Tomi long since all she had to do was follow the noise to leave the room. Sadly her grand plan of sneaking out hit a snag. A rather big snag in the form of realizing, that the rangers, not only bound her in chains but also chained her to one of the room’s walls…somehow. 

Well that discovery just destroyed any plan she had. It also angered Tomi. She never chained them to a wall. The most she did was just binding their arms. Tomi couldn’t also really do anything in the way of sneaking in such a predicament, so she waited for someone to come see her. 

Tomi hoped it wouldn’t be long. 

Spoilers: it didn’t take long. They must have heard the chains clanging against the wall or something. They were pretty damn quick walking into the room and now all five rangers are looking at her. Trying to be intimidating no doubt since they had their shiny armor on-Tomi thought they looked ridiculous. Entering the room as if they were the opposing a threat to the Jets or some shit. She might not have been able to see their faces but Tomi had a pretty good feeling that they were glaring at her. 

She bet they looked all adorable and pouty without their helmets on. However, the idea of the rangers imitating silly little kittens didn’t dissuade her from remembering the reason behind her capture. This needless show the rangers were putting on was hardly necessary and Tomi felt like getting to the point. Either way she was going to meet death tonight or she would be freed, either seemed nice if she was honest. 

“Soooo you caught me. I think congratulations are in order,” Tomi said breaking the ice with some misplaced joviality. 

“Are you working with Rita? The Red Ranger said as the group moved closer to her. The fact that they moved in sync with each other was a little much. 

“Who the fuck is that?” Tomi genuinely didn’t know and she doubted she could successfully shift blame to this Rita person. 

“The woman who gave you this.” Mr.Red pulled out Tomi’s Green coin from somewhere on his person and held it up causing her to try and pat down her pockets. Okay, her phone was still in her pants, which meant her wallet was still in her car and that if her mask was still on then they didn’t know who she was. 

“She’s the same woman responsible for the damage to the nearby town.” 

“Oh! Her,” Tomi definitely didn’t want anything to do with that lady. The green coin being this Rita’s person definitely explained why those golems kept showing up around her. Despite this, it was Tomi’s now since she found it. Finders’ keepers and all that. 

“Yeah no, she didn’t give me that. I found that, and some gold, on the beach two weeks ago.” She recalled while Mr.Red put the coin away somewhere. 

“Gotta say though, you need to work on your response times. I got my ass beat by her rock things after picking up the coin.” Tomi coupled her words with a rather pointed glare in their direction. 

“Not entirely sure how I survived since I know you girls didn’t rescue a half dead girl near the boardwalk’s highway.”  
The way the Pink Ranger turning her head to the side caused Tomi to raise an eyebrow. Apparently she had hit a nerve with the girl in pink. Well now…Tomi could poke that at a later time, maybe. It would depend on how things play out with the rangers. 

“Interesting, very interesting, if what you’re saying is true. Do you mind telling us who you are?” The Black Ranger said with some skepticism, skepticism that had Tomi rolling her eyes. Getting beaten by those golems was not fun; Tomi needed to figure out some way of punching the Black Ranger in the face for that doubt. 

“Not particularly.” There was honesty in that; didn’t stop the rangers from getting closer than Tomi liked however. 

“That's too bad, we’re going to find out.” The shortest ranger, the Yellow Ranger, said with fire in her voice as she stepped into Tomi’s personal space and reached for her hannya mask when an idea came to Tomi. An idea that involved using her new height to the fullest extent and Tomi capitalize on said height by leaning away from the Yellow Ranger’s hand. After all, she had like ten inches on that ranger; Tomi couldn’t not make use of the height difference to mess with the girl. 

The Yellow Ranger didn’t find it as humorous as Tomi did, what with the way Tomi received a swift kick to one of her shins. Yes, it hurt and yes it allowed the Yellow Ranger to wrench the mask off her head before tossing it aside but Tomi considered it a victory. As they took in her identity, she heard quite a few gasps as they began to place her face. 

“It’s you!” Apparently she had some fans. 

“Yes, it’s me! And I would’ve gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling girls.” Tomi’s sarcasm and subsequent laugh dripped off the words in her reply. She would have to imagine their shocked faces since they were still in their ranger armor being rude and such; denying her the pleasure of a successful surprise. The gasps and weird synchronized back step they all took would have to be enough to tide her over. 

“Why did you do it?” The Blue Ranger was the first to recover and break the silence. His tone made Tomi wonder if they had ever suspected her. 

“Finding the coin was unintentional. Let me assure you,” Tomi said as she drew out the confrontation. The time for her to use all the information she gathered was now. The longer this confrontation played out the more she could reveal to throw them off balance. After all, Jason and Zack’s color were now known to her with the way their coins were around their waist like some sort of belt buckle. Well, more like some sort of championship belt since the coins were over their belly buttons and also the fact that they seemed to recognize her from _somewhere._

Honestly, Tomi couldn’t keep the grin off her face. 

“Not that, the other thing.” The Black Ranger snapped. What a fool, playing into her plans like that. 

“What the zord fight? I mean…I guess I’m sorry I kicked your asses.” Tomi feigned obliviousness with a shrug as she went over what she did during the past thirteen days. 

A giggle from one of the rangers tore her attention away from the Black Ranger but the giggler was quickly shushed. 

“Tommy quit dodging the question. Why were you kidnapping people!?” The Red Ranger asked as he took a step toward her. Probably trying to act tougher than he was or something, perhaps even trying to be menacing. Who knows. 

“Listen Jason, pal, you have got to start pronouncing my name right. It’s Tomi, not Tommy.” Naturally Tomi dodged the question once more with a hopefully sufficient distraction. “Also, again, I’m really sorry about breaking your knee. I got absorbed into our fight and forgot about your injury.” 

The honesty and open-faced remorse fell on deaf ears as Tomi saw them do a weird group…glance between each other as if deciding something. Not two seconds later, Tomi was treated to the sight of the Rangers’ armor melting off of them causing her to wince. Burns were never fun and Tomi would likely wince whenever she was reminded of her skin melting off, simulated or otherwise. 

“Just answer the question, Tomi.” Kim exclaimed and hey, Tomi had been right. Kimmy was the Pink Ranger. Well it was a toss-up, so it wasn’t much of a victory for Tomi. 

“Geez, fine. I was abducting you to confirm a theory about the rangers and…to see how loyal said rangers were to each other.” Tomi’s answer was simple and to the point. After all, she didn’t much feel like explaining the last part. 

“What, why? You could’ve just come to one of us.” Billy chimed in with what sounded like the most naive answer in the world. 

“Right sorry that I didn’t immediately go to an unknown group, saying I’m the new member if you haven't heard,” Tomi’s sarcasm was automatic.  


“I didn’t find your little hide-y hole until after I found my zord. Both of those things were by accident cause, really, how was I to know that the Vault had a teleporter?” 

“Teleporter? Why would you find a...you’re Tanis.” Trini definitely seemed to be on the ball with making connections. Tomi figured the girl built a nice little timeline in her head to correspond with her appearances. Zack too if the glare she received was anything to go by. 

“I am indeed, forgive me for not bowing, I’m a little tied up. It’s how I acquired Billy’s name and began to notice various clues about you five like your color coordination. I’m surprised that your little robot or the face in the wall hasn’t spoken up yet. They were much nicer to me even if Faceman told me, in no uncertain terms, that I’m part of your team.” 

“You aren’t part of the team,” Billy spoke up interrupting Tomi at the mention of teams. His statement did little in removing the scowl that had gotten onto Tomi’s face as she was explaining her last visit. 

“Believe me, I know. However Faceman told me otherwise, despite me not wanting to be a part of it. Ain’t that right Mr.Face!” The questioning look she received at her shout caused Tomi to sigh.  
“I figure he’s listening in, if you are keeping me in your little ship…thing I visited last time.” 

“I am Tanis, and she’s right rangers. Whether she wanted to be a part of your team or not, the decision was made when she picked up the power coin.” Zordon’s voice sounded off from somewhere in the room, causing Tomi to check behind her. She did not like anyone sneaking up on her. 

“That’s bullshit!” Trini and Zack said in unison. 

“Tell me about it. Nothing quite as terrible as implied conditions masquerading as unknown expectations,” Tomi said sounding positively jaded, “that said you dudes are doing a bang up job of protecting our quaint little town. You don’t need me despite Faceman’s insistence.” 

What sincerity she included in her compliment likely went unheeded with the way a majority of the rangers continued to glare at her. Jason and Zack glaring she could understand. Tomi kidnapped them after all. However, the glare Trini was sending her was interesting. Interesting in that Tomi couldn’t piece together a reason why Trini would be giving her those angry doe eyes. They were pretty damn cute. Billy and Kim, on the other hand, looked to be conflicted for some reason. 

As a silence began to settle over them, Tomi began to idly wonder if she would return home tonight. Her evening was kind of shot, what with her plan backfiring, so she would hardly be able to get anything done. 

_Thank god it’s Friday, haha, kill me._ If they weren’t going to do anything soon Tomi was tempted to just straight up ask if they were going to kill her. The sound of shuffling footsteps killed that line of thought and it was as good as buried when Tomi saw the rangers huddle together as if it was game time. They didn’t want her listening in, kind of rude if one thought about it. 

It didn’t take long for Tomi to become tired of watching them talk about her; they didn’t even have the gall to talk behind her back, and just as she was starting to bounce on the balls of her feet the group turned back to face her. Kim took a step towards her as if she was going to be the group’s representative or something. 

Bit silly if you ask Tomi. 

“You didn’t answer our quest-“  
“Yes, I did.” Tomi said interrupting Kim. She wasn’t sure what else they could want; especially when Tomi wasn’t inclined to explain her actions…cause then it would mean “justifying” them. They were justified to Tomi and that’s all that mattered. 

“Fine, you didn’t answer enough so we’re still suspicious.” Kim corrected as she resumed speaking. The rolling of Tomi’s eyes at Kim’s question likely didn’t help win them over. 

“Not sure how it’s not obvious, princess, especially since you went through something similar,” The venom in Tomi’s voice was unintentional, especially towards Kim. So taking a breath Tomi tried let go of whatever anger or frustration she might have before she elaborated. 

“If you haven’t noticed and I honestly expect as much since I’m such an outcast, all of my old teammates-“friends”-up and abandoned me when we got back to school. Over protecting another teammate! I know you fellas don’t know this about me, but I’m rather touchy about trust. Let’s just say I’ve had less than ideal experiences with it. So my lack of willingness to reach out stems from a sore subject that has been repeatedly poked on a damn near daily basis for the past month. So go ahead; hold it against me if I didn’t consider an option that left me vulnerable. Wouldn’t be the first time I did something questionable.” 

Tomi’s rant died with a huff and the looks she was receiving, most angry still, made her feel a little exposed. Not really fond of that, Tomi walked back towards the wall the rangers had chained her before sitting down. Tomi knew, she just knew, she was going to have justify her actions to them and the action of doing so put her in a right fucking mood. Said mood would only get worse, and possibly sour whatever opinion the rangers have of her, if she allowed it to continue. 

_Best get that under control._

As Tomi began to focus on letting go of her mood with some breathing, she heard Kim walk back over to the rangers. Shockingly, not so much actually, she began to hear them whispering again. Maybe now they would finally decide on what to do with Tomi or just something. Their attempt at figuring out stuff was putting her to sleep. 

Honestly, that didn’t sound like a bad idea and if they were going to take a while they could just wake her when it was done. Tomi knew it wouldn’t be hard to fall asleep given her current predicament.  
All she has to do is focus on her breathing. It would go in…and then out…  
In…  
Then out…  


Tomi’s attempt at falling asleep lasted for about…two minutes before she started to hear the rangers talking. It was quite the distraction. From what she could see, the discussion was getting a little heated and a ranger or two was sounding _oh so_ dramatic. Whisper shouting and all that you see; they might as well just talk at that point. 

Credit where it’s due, despite the louder whispers Tomi couldn’t make out the conversation. The bits and pieces she picked up mostly pertained to her and what to do with her. Perhaps Faceman would get them to let her go or something. She _is_ on the team, despite her feelings on the matter, and it would be hard for the rangers to keep her effectively kidnapped. Perhaps Tomi should mention how she’ll keep their secrets. Tomi knew it wouldn’t exactly foster trust between them and herself, but it couldn’t hurt. 

“Hey rangers,” the whispers died immediately as she spoke as she stood up, “not that it’ll mean much but I won’t reveal your secrets.” 

Ooooh! The glares were back and they were looking particularly fierce. Yep, that did absolutely nothing for her case. 

“Why should we trust you?” Trini asked stone faced, as she took a few steps closer to Tomi. Some of them were back to trying to intimidate her, how nice. That or they never stopped trying. Trini trying to be stoic was just not going to work since Tomi found her to be so adorable. 

“Well…I’m pretty sure your hands are kind of tied, Cupcake. Unless you plan on killing me, you duders aren’t exactly in a position to detain me indefinitely until something is decided upon. So you know... you might have to let me go while keeping an eye on me. On the up and up; it’ll be like a suicide pact cause if you out me, I’ll out all five of you. However, if you got a way to hold me until a decision is reached that doesn’t make you five look like kidnappers then go ahead. Keep me here and take as much time as you need.” Tomi said solemnly. Unknown to her, the rangers could see mirth dancing in her eyes plain as day. 

“Hardly wins you any points if you’re showing us an ultimatum,” Zack said grimly, which was surprising for Tomi. She hadn’t ever seen him trying to be stern. 

“Ooh I know, but why go for points when rigging the game?” _Intentional or otherwise._ “Besides I’m merely making you girls aware of the realities of this situation. We’re still teens after all, teens that obey the laws…well, _almost_ all of them. And ignoring all of that; everyone here, except Tiger there, has known me for years. Years! You rangers have trusted me before…with much less dire things admittedly.” 

“Trust like that would take time…” Kim’s sentence trailed off as if some thought caught her attention. 

“Yes, and you dudes will have plenty of time because I will do my best to not be anywhere near ranger business.” Tomi said reaffirming her stance for what was possibly the third time since her capture. 

“Won’t interfere? That’s not much of a promise,” Jason’s words dripped with distrust. 

“Hey! I said before and I’ll say again, I didn’t want any part of this. What makes you think I’ll willingly get involved? Hell, a gun to my head would only get me involved after I know it’s loaded.” Tomi questioned his inability to believe something she hadn’t lied about before she stressed it even further.  
“Aside from that dumb line of thought, do you girls know what I do in my free-time? You don’t and, big surprise, I just keep to myself since I like my me time.” 

“Strange, from what I heard you seem quite willing to get into fights.” Zack spoke as if he was revealing some sort of trump card. Tomi knew what he was referring to; the fight that landed her in detention. She hadn’t heard anything about what she did to Colt, so it couldn’t be that. 

“Fuck off Zack! That fight started because I was helping a friend get away from an abusive prick. It wouldn’t have happened if that chuckle fuck punched me in the back.” Tomi snarled in reply. She really wasn’t fond of this topic and the idea that she went around getting into fights. She didn’t but that didn’t mean Tomi took things lying down, especially when it dealt with something she regarded highly. 

“Oh please, that’s as likely as me winning the lottery.” Zack continued expressing his disbelief and, honestly, it was kind of making Tomi wish she broke his neck. 

“Whoa, wait hang on, stop,” Kim’s voice halted what would likely become a shouting match between the two, “How would we be kidnappers?” 

“Oh that, I’m glad someone caught it.” Once more Tomi received glares from half the rangers. 

“How can I say this nicely…well since I’m a teenager, like you five, we tend to have curfews and while my guardian might be nice by giving me a long leash-they’re a bit of a worry wart and the attack on the town exacerbated it. So like…if I don’t return or check in with them, they’ll start to get worried. I’d wager by midday Saturday they would be searching the town for me. Sunday at the latest is when cops would probably get involved.” 

That little…revelation caused the rangers to somehow glance between all five of each other as if seriously considering their options regarding her. 

“Also, rangers, my car is still hiding out near Kim’s house so…you know, my guardian finding it there would be a little suspicious.” Tomi said adding another piece of information to something they likely hadn’t considered. The silence was just about to return when Jason spoke. 

“Okay that…definitely changes some things but we still aren’t sure of a few things. Things you should answer if you want to be let go.” Goodness, some progress had finally been made. Tomi hoped the "things" weren’t super ridiculous. 

“Well fuck. Twist my arm why don’t you,” Tomi said shifting her weight from foot to foot, “what are those “things” you wanna talk about?” 

“Why’d you start a fight with us in your zord?” Trini took center stage as she voiced, what Tomi figured was, a major concern. 

“Hey I didn’t start shit. I was just strollin' to the beach when your dinky combo zord showed up and started that fight.” Tomi said while shrugging. What? It was the truth. 

“Bullshit! Kim told us that when your zord broke the water you swiped at her.” Oh Trini sounded a little angry about that, although Tomi couldn’t remember swatting at Kim unless…oh! 

“Oh that, wait she was the thing that zoomed by Mecha’s head?” Tomi asked nodding her head towards Kim as she asked. “That wasn’t me; swear to god that was Mecha reacting on her own. Can’t rightly blame her though, since I thought Kimmy was some kind of huge bug at the time and reflexively tried to shoo her away.” 

“Yeah that was me. That roar your zord did, didn’t read as non-threatening.” Kim said as she recalled having to do a sudden evasive move when the giant hand-shaped object almost smacked her out of the sky. 

“Yes well, Mecha roars when she wants to. She nearly gave me a heart attack when I first found her. So is there anything else you would like to know about how I beat your zords cause…like I said, I didn’t start anything. I was trying to get to the beach. It’s why I walked passed you dudes in the water.” Tomi said nonchalantly not entirely aware of how weird her zord was. 

“Alright so let’s say you hadn’t meant to attack Kim and that fight happened because we thought you were a monster. Why did you continue the fight instead of running?” Billy said pushing on before one of his friends drew it out any longer. He didn’t really want to consider the possibility of being charged with kidnapping, not to mention how that would likely reveal their identities as power rangers. 

“Well…I don’t exactly back down from fights, especially ones where I have a chance to win. The fact that you five kept preventing me from gaining ground frustrated me in the end which caused me to run. Why? Did you or the others think I was being controlled or something?” Tomi said as if her reasoning was plain as day. Hell, Zack had implied earlier that she willingly sought out fights; factually untrue, she didn’t seek them out. Tomi just never backed down from them as she demonstrated with Mecha. 

“…Yeah, we thought and still do think you’re being controlled somehow.” Jason said with a frankness that caused Tomi to roll her eyes. 

_Of all the fucking things._

“Who the hell would be controlling me?” Tomi asked as she held Jason’s gaze. 

“Rita’s the most obvious answer. You found her coin and her zord. It stands to reason she likely did something to her coin.” Tomi wasn’t a fan of admitting such things but he had a point. Sighing to herself, Tomi decided to tell them about the coin. 

“You got me there, though I think that’s unlikely considering that when I first picked _my_ coin her hellish rock monsters appeared and decided to bounce me across the beach.” Tomi said as she recalled that night. The surprised looks she was getting from Trini, Billy, and Kim went unnoticed as she pressed on. 

“Pretty sure they were planning on killing me since not only was I smacked across the beach; I was smacked across the road too. Right into a guard rail. Truthfully, I’m not sure how I’m still alive since I passed out while they were still after me. Didn’t wake up until Monday morning in my house.” 

“Oh man, that’s just like us.” Billy said seemingly absorbed in thought. Tomi had no idea how her being nearly beaten to death was similar to them at all, though it did give her an idea. 

“Not sure if it’ll help, but what I if morph for you girls? Would that convince you that I’m not controlled?” Tomi asked as she took a couple steps toward them. Any more and she would be at the end of the chain tying her to the wall. The rangers stared at her question, somewhat owlishly, before suddenly huddling together for another talk. Tomi rolled her eyes in response since her patience was reaching its limits and right when she started to pace, they broke apart. 

“Morphin’ wouldn’t help since Rita could morph and she was clearly evil,” Trini said with a rather odd tone in her voice. Tomi couldn’t be sure but it almost sounded like it wavered. 

“Actually rangers,” Zordon’s voice bounced around the room as he made his presence known again, “it would help, if she morphed directly from a morphin’ pad. I had tried to mention it earlier when you five brought her onto the ship, but the morphin’ grid is capable of purging any and all outside influences on a coin and its ranger. Typically it’s done when they connect to the morphin’ grid.” 

“Yo, hold up! Is that why I was reminded of what being on fire feels like? ” Tomi interjected with a bit of anger. 

“Yes, though it should not have been painful. At most it’s usually a degree of discomfort that’s prolonged by the length of time the coin and its ranger has been influenced. Nothing to the extent of being burned alive however.” Zordon’s answer was clinical and it did comfort Tomi a little. The looks on the rangers’ faces spoke of a different story. 

“Was there anything odd about the pad you stepped on?” Zordon said causing Tomi to think back to when it happened. 

“Well…there was quite a large shard of metal sticking out of it and the light was flickering on and off, kinda.” Tomi answered though the incredulous stares she was getting from the rangers was a little off putting. Why the hell would she lie about experiencing that? She wasn’t the type to try and win sympathy points that way. 

“Tanis, have you morphed yet?” Zordon asked after a moment of silence, probably thinking on her answer. 

“What like them? No, I guess mine’s incomplete. I know I don’t get a cool ass helmet,” Tomi said with a pout. The helmet would’ve been so useful, “but I do get those things going up my spine and my body is mostly armored. Here, lemme show you girls that I can morph. I promise I won’t do anything.” 

“Alright, but-you’re going to do it by stepping onto a morph pad.” Jason said acting like it was her best option, which was honestly fine. Tomi didn’t care how or where she did it. Might honestly be easier with the pad, the first time had been easy too. 

It took them a bit of maneuvering, prompting, and some dirty looks were shot at her, but the rangers eventually unbound Tomi from the wall and her binds. Tomi had to prompt them about the chains binding her torso though. Couldn’t exactly morph or whatever if she was distracted or some excuse. She couldn’t believe they bought it however, when she was free Tomi found herself surrounded on all sides by the rangers. 

_Good on them_ Tomi thought as she was led towards the room with these morphing pads. It took no more than a minute for them to lead her to the room. It was just happenstance that it was the same room that contained that weird little robot and the pixelated face. Unfortunately the past like…half hour or something, Tomi couldn’t tell, put her on edge and the sight of the big Face and the robot caused her to break out into giggles. 

They look so out of place, she couldn’t help it. Faceman trying to look concerned but the wall he was in didn’t allow that. The robot that might just be a gnome or something seemed to be doing something on a nearby console but beyond that he seemed much too preoccupied for ranger stuff. Honestly, how could Tomi not find that funny? 

_Oh right_ … Realizing that the rangers were eyeballing her something fierce caused her to reign in her laughter as she waved off their concern. Once it was under control, Tomi found herself, and the rangers, in front of a ring of pads. Pads that looked remarkably similar to the one she found in that vault though they weren’t lit up or even flickering. That’s a good sign right? They were also surrounding some kind of star map or galaxy. Tomi wasn’t really sure. 

“Right so…where am I supposed to stand for this?” At Tomi’s question, the pads lit up as if voice activated, displaying the six rangers’ positions with some sort of holographic outline in their colors to her; it was a little freaky. The actual ranger positions got an eye roll from her when she realized that the rangers were paired with another one. Blue’s pad was parallel to Black, Pink was looking at Yellow over the star map- _Ha, star crossed lovers_ \- and good ol’ Green was being stared down by Red. 

Tomi idly wondered if they ever noticed the positions before one of them shoved her towards her green pad. 

“Come on, let’s see you morph.” The doubt in Zack’s voice is just a tiny bit aggravating, but she let it go. Tomi had her foot in the metaphorical door of being released, why screw it up when she’s almost out? 

“Fine, fine, though I’ll hold it against you five if I feel like I’m being burned alive again.” Tomi wasn’t as successful in ignoring the jab as she wished but whatever. She had pads to step on and a night to get on with. Stepping onto the morphing pad Tomi had some weird idea that it was just activate instantly. The other one did, but no this one had to not activate despite the coin being in her position. 

Tomi would’ve kept her odd thoughts up, actively ignoring what it would mean if she didn’t morph, when she was suddenly engulfed in light. Quite a bit of light to be honest, like a lot, so much so that it was blinding to Tomi and the rest of the Rangers had to shield their eyes. The blinding light did nothing to help steady her for the wind that somehow appeared while the star map spun rapidly. None of this prevented her from commenting however. 

“Ah fuck! These lights weren’t there last time. How can you stand it!” Tomi wasn’t a huge fan of being blinded, who knew. She wasn’t also a huge fan of the weird ass liquid sensation that she was feeling on her skin. It was better than being burned but it still felt very weird; really weird, like she was getting a second skin kind of weird. Any further curses were cut short as a tremor went through the room, likely from the star map with the way it released a burst of light at the same time. Said tremor was sudden enough that it nearly knocked Tomi and the rangers off their feet, before disappearing along with the lights and wind. 

Naturally when the rangers gathered their bearings, they all looked towards their prisoner, a prisoner who was looking back at them in full ranger armor- _green_ ranger armor-and was giving them finger guns. The finger guns were unneeded but Tomi was feeling smug. 

“There we go. This proves I’m the green ranger, the _best_ color, and there’s nothing controlling me,” Tomi said far too upbeat before turning to Alpha.  
“Right? Nothing’s on your little computer console thing saying the big bad green poser is with me?” 

“Well I would have to do a more thorough scan but the initial readings I’m getting from my sensors indicate that... yes, there are no strings on you.” Alpha said causing Zack to groan while Tomi laughed. 

“So can I go now? I swear on me mom that I won’t do anything that’ll interfere with this ranger stuff and I will, one hundred percent, stay out of your ranger way.” Tomi said with what was honestly the most amount of pleading she was ever forced to use. It very likely looked super odd considering, she was still in her ranger armor. 

Unfortunately Tomi’s mood, and path to freedom, took a sudden turn for the weird as she suddenly felt very…sad? No that wasn’t it. Worried? It was close but that didn’t explain why she was feeling pumped. Her recent run-ins with frustration convinced her it wasn’t that, so what could…Oh wait. Tomi recognized this feeling now. 

_Fear._ Tomi hadn’t felt fear this strong in a while and, yes, she was scared when those rock monsters showed up both times, it wasn’t this sudden or strong however. Turning away from the rangers, Tomi shot off a question at the person who likely had an answer; a person who seemed to be staring at Tomi’s ranger form. 

“Face, is there any sort of weird power ranger thing that can explain why I’m suddenly terrified?” Tomi asked hoping for an answer; because the sudden fear got her to remember all the weird panic she felt when she was kidnapping rangers. She also wasn’t a fan of being terrified or the quiver in her voice. 

“Yes. Each and every ranger that’s been part of a team has developed an empathetic connection that becomes stronger when they have all connected to the grid.” The face’s answer was straight and to the point, though it caused Tomi to realize quite a few things. 

“Hang about, are you saying the weird flashes of panic I felt when I was kidnapping Red and Black were from them?” Tomi said as the rangers began whispering with each other. She had no idea what it could be about this time and she didn’t care, she wanted answers. Answers about the stuff she had felt that weren't her own feelings. 

“Yes, it’s highly likely what you felt was from Zack or Jason. Proximity increases the strength at which one feels, as well as one’s relationship to their team.” Well that pretty much confirmed it for Tomi. Fucking ranger bullshit, making her feel shit she didn’t need to feel. Turning back to the rangers while still armored, not like Tomi knew how to turn it off, she decided to bring up the elephant in the room. 

“So as I proved: I can morph, I’m the green ranger, this Rita person isn’t controlling me, and I am still sorry about breaking Jason’s leg. Can you please let me go?” Tomi said and she was discovering that she wasn’t a huge fan of pleading or the stares she was getting from the rangers. They keep it up any longer; she might just take her chances and run for it. 

Glancing between each other for a few minutes, long enough that Tomi started to wonder if they gained telepathy, they reached some sort of decision. 

“The coins find those that they think are worthy, Tomi, and if you found your coin then you’re worthy to be a Power Ranger,” Kim said with an odd amount of sincerity and unease in her voice. An amount that got Tomi to raise an unseen eyebrow at the idea of being “worthy” before Jason continued where she left off. 

“You have also answered our questions and proved you aren’t willingly, or unwillingly, connected to Rita or a threat to the town and that the kidnappings were a mistake-“Tomi was about to interject, cause they weren’t mistakes, but thought better of it-“so yes, we’ll let you go. Begrudgingly, I might add.” 

Tomi actually felt relief wash over her as they confirmed they wouldn’t be holding her. Like actual relief, which was weird but she knew it was hers. Stepping off the pad and coming to a stop across from them, Tomi decided to do the appropriate thing even if she wasn’t fond of kissing up to people. 

“Thank you rangers for giving me this chance.” Tomi felt a little odd saying that while still in her ranger armor. She was going to have to figure out how to get out of this soon. 

“Don’t think we won’t be watching you however, I’m still not fully convinced” Zack said as he scrutinized her for some reason. Tomi had no real idea why, maybe he didn’t like the fact she had an inch or four on him or something. She just shrugged in acceptance since she didn’t want to get into another argument about why Zack might still be mad. 

“So how do I get ou-“  
“I apologize, but something’s bothering me. How are you able to morph so easily?” Billy interrupted unknowingly cutting off Tomi’s chance at an exit by bringing a new issue to light. 

“I’m curious about that too,” Trini said as she looked between the grid, Tomi, and Zordon. “It took us like two weeks and this amazon does it in a fraction of the time. What’s with that?” That put all the attention back on Tomi and as they continued to stare at she began to grasp for straws. She truly had no idea that it was so unusual. She was the wrong person to be asking but that didn’t stop her urge from responding back. 

“What can I say fellas? I’m just that good.” Was the confidence in Tomi’s voice over the top and bordering on arrogance? Yes. Was the response from Tomi a result of her being fed up with this ranger shit and being slightly petty from how she was feeling? Yes, thankfully the animated face spoke up before they could demand an actual answer. 

“I can shed some light on that, Rangers. It largely has to do with Rita and her relationship to my team.” _Fucking hell,_ Tomi was starting to hate this Rita lady for all the problems she was giving her. Just when she got them to let her go, she has to pop up again, like some sort of fucking gnat. 

“No, it has nothing to do with how evil she became or her magic. It has to do with the morphing grid.” That explained so much. 

“When a ranger and their power coin aren’t connected to their team for a long time, the way to morph changes as the relationships change. It goes from knowing your team, connecting to each other, to knowing yourself. This change goes both ways, however, and eventually Tanis’ ability to morph will become tied with yours.” 

“That’s bullshit!” Zack and Tomi said together making their displeasure known. The side eye they gave each other proved it wasn’t intentional despite their opinions on the matter. 

“It’s how the grid operates. There have been records of lone rangers occasionally working together with teams that retain their powers alongside a few other factors. It’s one of the reasons why the smallest ranger teams are usually three members.” Zordon said enlightening the rangers on a facet of the morphing grid. Tomi didn’t much care outside of the hindrance it might eventually cause. She has more pressing things to worry about in the present. 

“So there you dudes have it. Anyway can one of you shed some light on how I remove this armor and then I’ll get out of your hair.” Tomi said capitalizing on the distraction caused by the explanation. She was keen on getting out of here tonight. She didn’t do all that talking to be stuck there until Saturday. 

“Oh that, you just think of taking it off. Well I do, I don’t know about the others.” Billy said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Hell, Tomi couldn’t fault him since she put it on so easily.  
“I usually will it way.” Kim said without much elaboration.  
“It just kind of melts off for me.” Jason’s answer didn’t really help Tomi. The wince didn’t help either.  
“It’s like a switch for me. Just toggle it on and off,” Zack said causing Tomi to do an unseen eye roll.  
“Yeah I do something similar. It just goes away on its own.” Trini said confirming that Tomi was pretty much on her own.  


_Delightful._

Not having anything to lose Tomi focused on “willing” the armor off of her, closed her eyes, concentrated, and everything. Unfortunately, Jason’s description kept popping into her head and she really wanted to avoid the whole “melting” thing if she could. It’s never fun, and soon enough Tomi began to feel something falling off of her. Well, it was more like flowing off of her as if it was water falling to the ground. After a few more seconds the sensation came to a stop and Tomi found herself back in her clothes. Her typical green hoodie, black shirt, and jeans she wore to kidnap Kim in. 

“Right thanks for that,” Tomi said before walking out of the room. She needed to pick up her mask before she ran back to her car. 

“See you rangers in detention.” 

##### -

After Tomi had left, and the rangers were sure she left completely, they reconvened to Zack’s train car to talk about their rather eventful day around a fire. There was decidedly less alcohol or fun compared to their normal bonfire nights this time. Kim still couldn’t quite believe that the person who had been terrorizing them all week had been Tomi or that her plan had worked. Naturally her thoughts were focused on Tomi. Tomi, the little mousey soccer player that she had known since middle-school! 

The last bit of gossip she heard about Tomi involved her asking some girl out in the middle of a hallway. Cause like, who does that? 

_Lord._ it was going to take all weekend for Kim to even process the idea of Tomi being a threat, but there were more important things to worry about currently. Trini was one of them, and Kim had become acutely aware of the way Trini froze upon seeing Tomi’s green armor. She did all she could to distract Trini from it short of kissing her. 

Kim knew that would work, but like…she also knew Trini would not have appreciated it being done in front of their most recent enemy. Enemy to friend? Frenemy? Associate? Hardly mattered since all Kim had to do was squeeze Trini’s hand, and her friend came back to reality with a jolt. There might’ve been a bit more than platonic love when she did it and Trini might’ve felt it through the group link, but hey, that was between her and Trini. ‘Sides, Kim and her friends needed to talk about what just happened and the way the boys were looking into the fire prompted her to get the ball rolling. 

“So is anyone else having a hard time believing that Tomi did all that?” That garnered apathetic stares but no one stepped up. Kim didn’t really wanna be the one leading the conversation, but it looked like she had to. 

“A little yeah,” Billy said nodding at the thought. “I didn’t really know her but she just seemed quiet whenever I had a class with her.” 

“I remember hearing about the girls’ soccer team becoming rougher after she joined as a full-back; I thought some of the jocks were joking around since they didn’t know how rough soccer could get,” Jason said after taking a minute to reflect back on everything he could remember about Tomi. There wasn’t honestly a lot since he never had any reason to pay attention to her. 

Silence returned as everyone went back to their thoughts over the week, likely trying to see signs or something that could’ve indicated what Tomi was planning earlier. Kim was also kind of moving closer and closer to Trini, all subtle like, while it was happening since she planned on asking Trini something. Right when Kim would’ve closed the gap between Trini and herself, Jason spoke up asking a question about something that had been bothering Kim. 

“So has anyone else been feeling empty all week. Like not depressed but numb? I thought we were supposed to be in tune with our feelings or something cause of the connection. I haven’t gotten any sort of flashes all week.” The question was important, really important, since it would’ve proven useful in capturing Tomi sooner. Kim was aware of how frustrated and worried everyone became after Zack had been kidnapped, doubly so following Jason’s abduction, and a warning flash would’ve been a godsend. 

On a personal level, Kim felt really terrible about not being able to pick up on what anyone was feeling since she was the person Tomi called about Zack. 

“You felt that too? Man, I thought I was going crazy. I’ve been depressed before but that emptiness was something else. It drained my motivation and I didn’t feel like doing anything.” Zack said describing what Kim had felt as well, and with Billy and Trini nodding in agreement, made her wonder how they all felt that. 

“Hang on; didn’t Tomi say something about getting flashes of emotions earlier? “ Kim said as her thoughts began to piece together a weird conclusion. It could work but if it was true then it would be a little ridiculous. Cause honest to god, Kim thought it was her; a mix of self-loathing and depressive thoughts always made her feel empty. The last time she was in such a state was last week when Amanda cornered Trini in a bathroom. 

“Hey yeah she did. How crazy would it be if that empty feeling was from her?” Zack said seemingly catching onto what Kim was leading towards. 

“Crazier things happened this week so it’s possible,” Billy said deep in thought before Jason jumped into the conversation discussing the possibility of Tomi being the cause and what it meant. It didn’t take much for the boys to start theorizing and getting caught up about what else power rangers could do. 

It was a bit of a reoccurring topic in the group, and one Kim was happy to let them indulge. It gave her the window she needed to finish moving to Trini’s side where she took her hand and, after making sure Trini was fine with it, began to trace patterns on her friend’s palm. 

“You okay, T? You kind of froze when Tomi morphed,” Kim’s voice was a barely more than a whisper as she stared into the fire. Trini’s response was simply laying her head on Kim’s shoulder before nodding “no” once and during any other time, Kim would find that cute beyond words but now wasn’t those times. 

“You want to talk about it?” Kim asked lightly. If Trini didn’t want to talk about it, Kim wasn’t going to push. They talked about Rita enough whenever they have a sleep over and Trini feels like sharing. It had taken quite a few sleep overs, impromptu sleep overs at that, before Trini was comfortable enough to open up to Kim. About anything but eventually the nightmares and insomnia Trini experienced became a regular topic. 

A topic that Kim did her best to help her friend work through, and with the school being shut down for two weeks, there had been actual progress. Enough progress that Kim noticed Trini’s insomnia was lessening bit by bit, along with Kim discovering how she _really_ liked Trini sleeping in her bed, but Tomi had to go and mess it up by being the new Green Ranger. 

“I just…She morphed when she attacked me, you know? Like she was rubbing the fact that she was stronger than us in my face. It’s weird, I hardly paid attention to her armor when she attacked us but I could tell it was really dark,” Trini said quietly, working through her thoughts as Kim’s hands gave her unneeded butterflies. “Darker than Tomi’s armor, in fact. It’s kind of weird but I actually like Tomi’s green.” 

“Mmm how so?” That caught Kim by surprise, though she wouldn’t begrudge her friend’s thought. Kim wasn’t really sold on Tomi’s color herself, she wouldn't ever be a fan of green. 

“I don’t know… Tomi’s green just seems brighter or some shit compared to Rita’s. Like our colors I guess… Knowing Rita’s gone for good though, it’s…nice,” Trini said as she stared at the fire as she wiped her eyes with her free hands. 

The thought of Rita finally being gone was wonderful, maybe Trini would finally be able to sleep for a while. Speaking of which, Trini needed to work up what remained of her courage to ask Kim something important. 

It took longer than Trini want to admit, and the way Kimberly was holding Trini’s hand didn’t help get her thoughts straight, but after a minute or three she found her nerve. 

“Hey Kim, would you…um, would you mind terribly if I slept over tonight?” Kim nodded absently in reply, she was about to ask Trini if she wanted to anyway. 

“Yeah sure and thank you for helping me catch Tomi, Trini. She probably would’ve succeeded if you didn’t humor my plan.” Kim admitted with a quiet self-deprecating chuckle. Honesty wasn’t a super flattering look on her but she could wear it. Her plan had relied on a terrible amount of luck, and she still wasn’t sure why Trini agreed to it. 

“You’re welcome. I wasn’t about to let anyone take m-our princess.” 

Trini wasn’t aware of the blush she put on Kim’s face, she was dying on the inside from almost calling Kim her princess, but the boys eventually became aware of the misplaced pterodactyls in their tummies as the night wore on. 

#####  Saturday

Tomi was having a pretty wonderful Saturday currently. She had not only found the rangers’ identity but got their permission to fuck off from being a ranger and it was storming outside. Tomi couldn’t ask for a better day. Eventually she found out that Kat had somehow gotten her number causing Tomi to text her to pass the time in detention. They had been talking about rather general topics while Tomi easily ignored the stares she was receiving from the rangers. Well two of them. At least Zack proved he could be discrete compared to Jason. At the start of detention, it took all of five minutes before Tomi waved to Jason indicating she knew he was watching her. 

Thankfully, he was smart enough to realize that if Tomi noticed him then the teacher probably did as well. It was smooth sailing after that and Tomi had an even better idea for her date tomorrow. Maybe it wouldn’t be horribly stilted like Tomi feared, but who knows. The rest of detention went by fast with Kat keeping her attention, although Tomi made a note to ask how she got her number. 

Currently, Tomi’s twiddling her thumbs as she waits for her therapist to ask a question. 

“So Tomi, it’s been two weeks. Did anything exciting happen?” He asked starting the session. Tomi had to stomp down the urge to laugh at such a question. 

“I guess. I tried to be more charismatic like you suggested and,” Tomi couldn’t really stop her grin if she tried, “I may have gotten a few friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, I'm not sure how I got this chapter out but it kind of got away from me. It also turned me into a bit of a sap.  
> I'm not too sure how to feel about it.


End file.
